


I Keep Falling For You

by circusgirlc



Series: Baby Don't Go [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BaekYeol - Freeform, ChanBaek - Freeform, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-17 10:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 45,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11849880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/circusgirlc/pseuds/circusgirlc
Summary: Chanyeol doesn’t want to be jealous, it’s his least favourite trait that he has. Trying not to be jealous is extremely difficult, however, because the whole damn campus seems to be crushing on Byun Baekhyun, and Chanyeol’s no different.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I spent 6 months writing this fic and it's pretty much my baby so I hope you'll all enjoy it. I have all the chapters written so I'll probably update this fic every 2 days! I am also posting this on Tumblr so if you see it being posted by @soft-jihoonie there, it's not plagiarised.

Chanyeol doesn’t want to be jealous, it’s his least favourite trait that he has. Trying not to be jealous is extremely difficult, however, because the whole damn campus seems to be crushing on Byun Baekhyun, and Chanyeol’s no different. He thinks he should feel lucky because at least he’s actually friends with Baekhyun. Seeing someone hit on his crush every time they hang out doesn’t do much to help him believe he has a chance though.

So, that’s how he finds himself unconsciously frowning as he watches some girl flirt with Baekhyun and Baekhyun flirting back. Chanyeol guesses he understands because the girl is pretty, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. He takes a sip of his coffee, noting how ironic it is that Baekhyun was the one who invited him out but hasn’t said a word to him since they sat down and the girl appeared. The coffee is slightly bitter and Chanyeol feels like he can relate because he always ends up feeling slightly bitter when he sees Baekhyun.

He knows he can’t blame him, he’s a naturally flirty guy. It’s not like Chanyeol owns him, as much as he would like to hear Baekhyun say, “I'm yours”, to him.

Chanyeol tries not to listen in on their conversation, tries to focus on the textbook he’s brought with him. This was meant to be a study session, but so far, no studying’s happened, and all he can hear is the girl giggling at something Baekhyun’s said. His eyes drift from the textbook to the hand she’s got placed on his crush’s bicep, pretty painted nails lightly pressing into it. He gets an urge to push it away, clenching his fists to keep himself from following through with it. His gaze rises to Baekhyun smirking at the girl, who’s now blushing. Then he’s turning to look at Chanyeol, winking at him before turning back to the girl. Chanyeol’s frown seems permanent now as he considers that maybe Baekhyun knows of his feelings and is just trying to make him jealous enough that he’ll confess. He quickly reminds himself that that only happens in films and books, and Baekhyun probably has no idea that Chanyeol’s so very gone for him.

He feels himself start to get more and more downtrodden as he watches the two gorgeous people interact, and on finishing his drink, decides he can’t watch any longer. He stands quickly, figuring his friend won’t notice anything, turning to walk to the bathroom without looking back. He feels the tightness in his chest from attempting to hold back tears and speeds up, feeling stupid for being so affected by something he should be used to by now.

He reaches the single bathroom the cafe has, luckily there’s no queue, and quickly locks the door behind him. Staring at himself in the mirror, he’s slightly taken aback by the deep frown on his lips and his eyes tinged slightly red. Shaking his head as if that’ll fix everything, he closes his eyes as he tries to smooth away the deep-set frown. He attempts to calm down his breathing enough to not feel like he’s going to burst into tears over something so small and stupid.

By the time he feels like he’s more in control of his body, it’s been about 5 minutes, and he wonders if Baekhyun’s even noticed he’s been away. He takes a deep breath before opening the door and stepping out, awkwardly nodding at the guy waiting to use the bathroom. He makes his way back to his table, noticing the girl’s gone and Baekhyun is flipping through the textbook he’d left behind. He slows his steps slightly, allowing himself a moment to admire just how ethereal the man is, before shooing away the thoughts and moving to take a seat. He glances up when Chanyeol slides into his seat, a confused look on his face as he seems to be studying him. Chanyeol automatically wipes his hand over his lips, worried there’s something on his face. 

Baekhyun just chuckles quietly though, his face lighting up beautifully. He smirks at him as if he knows something, saying, “What was all that frowning about when I was talking to Joy?”

Chanyeol thanks the lord for his quick thinking as he casually replies, “I was just thinking about an essay I need to finish, I'm struggling with it a little.”

Luckily, his crush seems to believe it, reaching over to pat his arm as he says, “I'm sorry man, you want me to see if Jongdae can help?”

It’s stupid, he knows it is. He does actually have an essay he’s struggling with, but he doesn’t want to say yes. It’s not that he dislikes Jongdae, he’s great and he’s never been anything but a good friend to Chanyeol. However, the guy is Baekhyun’s roommate and if anyone flirts with his crush constantly, it’s Jongdae. He knows from experience that Jongdae would want to do the work in his flat, which means Baekhyun would be there. As if that’s not distracting enough for him, he’d then have to see them constantly flirting, and by the time he leaves he’ll have made no progress, regardless of how much help he gets.

He sighs, knowing he’s going to regret it, but he just can’t say no to Baekhyun so he shrugs noncommittally and says, “Sure.”

His friend seems satisfied with this answer, grinning at him before shoving the textbook over the table, pointing at a question as he says, “Explain this to me.” 

He’s got that mischievous glint in his eye, and it’s obvious that he just wants to mess with Chanyeol. He doesn’t do the same course as him at all, and Chanyeol knows he doesn’t give two shits about whatever he’s about to explain. It used to bother him that Baekhyun would do this, but he quickly realised that the information actually sticks with him more once he’s explained it to Baekhyun. He does it without complaining nowadays. There’s not much he doesn’t do for Baekhyun without complaining anymore really, and he often wonders how Baekhyun hasn’t noticed how smitten for him he is.

Chanyeol tries to keep his focus on the textbook as he explains the answer, knowing he’ll probably start blushing if he looks at the boy opposite. Said boy is staring at him intently, leaning forwards with his chin rested in his hand. As Chanyeol talks, Baekhyun reaches over to his hand resting on the table and starts tracing patterns on it, smiling softly. Chanyeol tries not to get distracted by Baekhyun touching him, and he has to take a subtle deep breath to calm himself enough to continue.

He’s just starting to fully get into his explanation when Baekhyun’s phone chimes. He picks it up to read the message and Chanyeol’s voice starts to trail off as his crush focuses more on his phone with each text that arrives. Eventually, he stops speaking and he doesn’t know who the person on the phone is, but he wishes he were them, wishes he could make Baekhyun grin like he currently is at his phone. It’s about a minute later, when he’s gone back to reading through his textbook and trying to think about his essay, that the phone is placed back onto the table.

He doesn’t look up until he hears his friend say, “So that was Jongdae, he suggested you come over with me now and he can help you on the essay.”

He’s still got that smile on that he always seems to have for Jongdae. Chanyeol doesn’t think he can handle any more of watching the guy he likes flirting with someone else though. He’s already feeling pretty vulnerable and hopeless after being ignored, even if it was unintentional.

He shakes his head as he closes his textbook, stuffing it into his bag as he mumbles out, “No no, it’s okay. I should get home, Kyungsoo’s expecting me back for dinner.”

He doesn’t even look at his crush as he stands, shoving his backpack on his back and blurting out, “See you later,” before rushing out the cafe. 

He knows that was weird behaviour, knows he’ll be questioned about it, but as he’s speed walking away from the cafe he can’t really find himself regretting it. Unfortunately, having a crush on the hottest guy on campus means he’s left feeling a little down each time he hangs out with him.

He had at first thought he didn’t have a chance because Baekhyun’s dating Jongdae, and most people would make that assumption because of how close the roommates are. However, the moment he’d suggested to Baekhyun that that might be the case, his answer was loud laughter followed by, “What are you talking about? He’s just my roommate.”

So, as he watched more and more people flirt with Baekhyun, and him flirting back, he started to think that maybe he just wasn’t what his crush wanted, wasn’t good enough for him. Unfortunately, by the time he’d come to this conclusion, he’d also realised that Baekhyun probably wasn’t just a crush and that he was in way deeper than he had ever meant to be.

It doesn’t help that Chanyeol hasn’t just known him from University, no, he’s been smitten with him from high school, probably even before he understood what his feelings were. Originally, the two of them had been planning to live together in University after the first year of living in accommodation, but Jongdae had come into their lives. Jongdae was apparently a childhood friend of Baekhyun’s, and Chanyeol had been left to beg Kyungsoo to live with him.

By the time Chanyeol’s home and walking through the front door, there’s a permanent pout on his lips and he’s looking kind of like a kicked puppy. He trudges into the kitchen, knowing he’ll find his culinary major housemate there, and Kyungsoo only has to take one look at him to know what’s wrong. He sighs, turning back to his cooking as he says, “Who was it this time? That’s the Jongdae pout, right?”

Chanyeol leans on the counter next to his housemate, ignoring the question and instead asking, “What are you cooking?”

One look from Kyungsoo tells him he’s not going to get out of answering the question, so he shrugs and says, “Some girl called Joy at the cafe, and then he ignored me to answer Jongdae’s texts.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, he’s never really understood why Chanyeol still sticks around Baekhyun, before holding up a spoon with broth in it, his eyes softening a little as he says, “Here, taste.”

Chanyeol does as he’s told, understands that his housemate doesn’t do talking about problems. He knows Kyungsoo shows his love by looking after him, so he can’t complain that he’s always being asked to try his culinary experiments.

He hums once he’s swallowed the broth, stopping to think for a moment before saying, “It’s good, there’s something missing though.”

Kyungsoo takes a taste himself, nodding in agreement before moving around the kitchen to find whatever he thinks is missing. Chanyeol lifts himself up to sit on the counter, absentmindedly watching his housemate move around as he starts to think about his essay again. He knows he’s good at his course, knows he has the skills, but essay writing really isn’t his forte and he doesn’t want that to bring down his overall grade. 

He’s brought out of his thoughts when he hears, “You stuck on an essay again?”, break through the sounds of Kyungsoo cooking.

He turns to look at his housemate, mouth dropping open in confusion before asking, “How did you know?”, with his head cocked to the side like a puppy.

Kyungsoo smirks slightly, not looking at him as he says, “Chanyeol, the only time you’re not bugging me when you’re home is when you’re thinking about uni work, doing uni work or jerking off in your room over thoughts of your little crush.” 

Chanyeol sputters in response, clumsily falling off the counter and grabbing onto the nearest thing to stop him from completely collapsing to the ground. The nearest thing happens to be Kyungsoo’s arm, the hand of which is currently seasoning some meat, and Kyungsoo shoots him a death glare as he yanks his arm out of Chanyeol’s grip.

Chanyeol backs away a little, not wanting to further anger his housemate, but he still exclaims, “That is not true, I do not bug you!”, as he crosses his arms.

Kyungsoo just lets out a loud laugh, grinning as he says, “You’re so defensive man, just accept the truth.”

In response, Chanyeol just lets out a huff before mumbling, “Why do I ever think you’re going to be nice to me?” 

He still moves back over to the counter though, letting himself slip back into thoughts about his essay as Kyungsoo shoots him a satisfied grin and goes back to cooking. 

As much as it seems like his housemate dislikes him, Chanyeol can’t count the times Kyungsoo’s looked after him when he’s been majorly stressed about university, or feeling hurt over Baekhyun yet again. He wonders how he still puts up with him after all this time, knows how much he can get in the way sometimes, and yet Kyungsoo has never once gotten actually angry at him.

Kyungsoo’s been around longer than Baekhyun, he’s watched Chanyeol become more and more smitten with the boy. He’s been there to pick Chanyeol up every time he’s fallen down since they were kids, both physically and metaphorically. Sometimes Chanyeol thinks that if he wasn’t so smitten for Baekhyun, maybe he would’ve fallen for his childhood friend. He’s never been more than his best friend though and he thinks that Kyungsoo could do much better, could find someone who’s not so clingy and clumsy. Mostly he just reminds himself how lucky he is that he’s managed to stay friends with Kyungsoo this whole time, knows that he probably wouldn’t be who he is today if it wasn’t for Kyungsoo.

The evening seems to go more smoothly than his day had, he eats the meal Kyungsoo made which tastes as great as he was expecting it to, it’s rare his housemate's culinary experiments don’t go well. After the meal, he’s not really thinking about Baekhyun anymore and he finds he can actually start doing more work on his essay. He’s actually pretty in the zone, feeling content as he works on his laptop, sitting next to Kyungsoo who’s doing the same. The only sounds are fingers on keyboards and Kyungsoo softly singing, which always relaxes Chanyeol, but then his phone is ringing and the peaceful mood is shattered. 

Kyungsoo leans over to look at the phone screen as Chanyeol picks it up, mumbling out, “Here we go again”, when he sees Jongdae’s name on the screen.

Chanyeol elbows Kyungsoo before answering the call, locking eyes with his housemate as he says, “Hello?”

Jongdae’s cheerful voice comes through the phone as he says, “Hey! Baekhyun said you needed essay help but just rushed out of the cafe earlier when he suggested me helping you today.”

It’s followed by a mumble of, “Jongdae, shut up! You didn’t need to mention that”, and Chanyeol feels tense now that he knows Baekhyun’s listening in, Kyungsoo raising his eyebrows at his friends' sudden switch in attitude.

Chanyeol tries to relax as he says, “Ah yeah, I just needed to get home, I remembered Kyungsoo wanted a second opinion on his newest experiment”, and he gets an eye roll from Kyungsoo for using him as an excuse.

Jongdae laughs, chuckling out, “Typical Kyungsoo”, and Chanyeol hears Baekhyun’s gorgeous laugh in the background, one of his favourite sounds. Jongdae then continues to ask, “Well do you want to come round tomorrow to work on the essay?”

Chanyeol knows he needs a second opinion, needs support from Kyungsoo, so he says, “You want me to come over tomorrow?”

He barely pays attention to Jongdae’s, “Uh yeah, that’s what I said”, as he focuses on Kyungsoo dramatically shaking his head no before pointing towards the floor.

There’s a moment of silence as Chanyeol tries to figure out what Kyungsoo’s implying, but then it clicks and he says, “Hey Jongdae, do you reckon you could come here instead?”

Jongdae lets out a loud enough whine of, “But that’s effort”, that Kyungsoo hears it and reaches over to take the phone. The next minute Chanyeol spends listening to Kyungsoo seemingly bargaining with Jongdae, and he’s starting to think it’s going to take forever.

But then Kyungsoo is exclaiming, “Great! See you at 3 pm then. Oh, and tell Baekhyun Chanyeol says hi.” Chanyeol lets out a groan at this, but his housemate ignores him as he says a few more “mhm’s” and “yeah’s” before hanging up and lightly chucking Chanyeol his phone.

He scrambles to catch it, placing it safely on the couch before grabbing Kyungsoo’s arm and saying, “What’s happening?”

Kyungsoo barely glances up from his laptop as he mumbles out, “Jongdae’s coming round tomorrow afternoon. Baekhyun said hi by the way.”

Chanyeol almost falls into Kyungsoo’s lap as he moves closer, gripping onto his leg to exclaim, “I love you so much.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, exasperatedly saying, “Yeah yeah, I love you too dork”, but he still moves his laptop aside and pats his lap, a clear invitation for Chanyeol to rest his head there. 

Kyungsoo isn’t exactly cuddly with most people, Chanyeol being the exception, but he always seems to understand when Chanyeol needs it most. They spend the rest of the evening watching some shitty movie, Chanyeol focusing more on Kyungsoo’s fingers running through his hair and his thoughts than whatever’s happening in the film. He finds himself thinking that maybe he should just give up on Baekhyun, try and find someone else, and his last thought is _hah like you could manage that, idiot_ before he drifts off to sleep.

* * *

 

He spends the next day feeling incredibly relaxed, no longer stressing over his essay now he knows he’ll be getting help from Jongdae without the tempting distraction of Baekhyun. He feels a little bad for his housemate, who has to deal with an overly happy Chanyeol, but he catches Kyungsoo smiling at his silliness several times before he covers it up with eye rolls. Chanyeol revels in the fact that he doesn’t have to dress to look good for anyone (Baekhyun) so he dresses in sweatpants and an old shirt that has holes in it from how much he’s worn it. His hair is pretty messy and he doesn’t bother to wear his contacts, just happily puts on his glasses.

Kyungsoo had actually laughed the moment he’d seen Chanyeol, and it wasn’t till the former pouted that he explained: “Dude, I just haven’t seen you dressed so casually in so long. You look so happy about it.”

He then realises that ever since university started, he’s been trying way too hard to impress people (Baekhyun) even though said people have seen him dressed sloppily in the past. He considers changing this for a moment, but almost two seconds after realises he cares too much about what people (Baekhyun) think of him to change his ways. But today there’s no chance of him seeing Baekhyun, so he relaxes entirely and doesn’t even mind if people laugh at his look for the day.

Sure enough, when Chanyeol opens the door for Jongdae, he takes one look at him before chuckling loudly. Chanyeol rolls his eyes as Jongdae says, “What? Did you just roll out of bed or something?”, and just flips him off as he moves aside to let his friend in.

Jongdae doesn’t wait for Chanyeol to shut the front door, he just walks off towards the living room as Chanyeol closes the door and trails after him. He has to stop himself from laughing at Jongdae attempting to make conversation with his housemate who clearly isn’t interested in chatting right now, his eyes fixated on his laptop screen. He wants to crack up over Jongdae’s attempts to be flirty towards an unimpressed Kyungsoo, but he needs to be on Jongdae’s good side today. He moves his laptop over to their table, indicating to Jongdae that he’s ready to start working. Jongdae seems to understand, making his way over to the table, but he stops and turns to look at Kyungsoo again.

Kyungsoo finally looks up, quirking his eyebrow as if to ask ‘what?’ and Jongdae is quickly saying, “Uh I just wondered what time we’ll be eating?”

Chanyeol decides that the conversation isn’t worth his time and starts focusing on his essay, so he misses Kyungsoo’s answer and that Jongdae sends a text straight afterwards. He, however, doesn’t miss Jongdae sliding into the seat next to him, ruffling the taller man’s hair as he says, “You look quite cute actually.”

Chanyeol just says, “Shut up”, before beginning to explain what he’s struggling with and, luckily, Jongdae actually concentrates and starts acting seriously.

See, Chanyeol doesn’t hate Jongdae. Sure, he hates how flirty he is with Baekhyun, but Chanyeol knows Jongdae’s just a flirty person. He’s been on the receiving end of flirty Jongdae multiple times, so he understands that the two of them flirt with each other constantly, considering their similar personality. It doesn’t make him feel any less hopeless about his feelings for Baekhyun though, and he’s long since accepted that he’s not going to be someone Baekhyun wants to flirt with. He’s never flirted with Baekhyun himself, but he’s seen Baekhyun be flirty with so many people who aren’t flirty back, so he’s just put it down to not being good enough. He knows his crush loves him, but it’s completely platonic and he’s learning to cope with that slowly, even if it hurts.

Chanyeol’s very happy with himself by the time they’ve finished, he’s written a fairly good essay, and he only needed minimal prompting from Jongdae in the end. He’s so content that he doesn’t even think twice about the doorbell ringing whilst Jongdae’s doing a last read through of his essay.

He just calls out, “I'll get it”, and lazily makes his way towards the door, feeling less stressed than he has in a while. He’s very quickly shocked out of his relaxed state, however, when he opens the door.

Standing there, looking as gorgeous as ever, is Byun Baekhyun, and Chanyeol doesn’t know how to react after having practically run away from him the day before. He realises Baekhyun is staring at him and he suddenly becomes very self-conscious because Baekhyun looks like a model and he looks like the broke University student he is. He begins to fidget as Baekhyun eyes him, gaze lingering on his torso and the way too many holes in his shirt that he probably should have thrown out long ago. He can’t tell what Baekhyun’s thinking at all and he’s not sure he can take him staring any longer.

He instinctively moves his arms to try to cover up the holes in his shirt as he blurts out, “What are you doing here?”

Baekhyun’s gaze lifts up to Chanyeol’s face and he looks momentarily confused before he grins and says, “Kyungsoo invited us for food, didn’t he?”

Chanyeol groans internally because of course Jongdae would invite his roommate along for food, and it had to be on the day Chanyeol was so underdressed.

The man in front of him clears his throat to get his attention again, an awkward grin on his lips as he says, “So, can I come in?”

Realising he’d been a little lost in thought, Chanyeol steps to the side, opening the door wider as he says, “Oh yes, of course, I'm sorry.” Unlike his roommate, Baekhyun actually waits in the hallway with Chanyeol as he shuts the front door, admiring his broad shoulders whilst the taller man’s back is turned.

Chanyeol turns around, catching Baekhyun staring, but his crush smoothes over the potentially awkward moment by asking, “Am I too overdressed? I figured I should dress a bit nicer for a meal from Kyungsoo.”

He looks over Chanyeol once more as he says, “Maybe I should change, I mean...”, and he gestures at Chanyeol as his voice trails off.

Chanyeol can feel himself blushing, can feel his ears getting red and hot under Baekhyun’s gaze, and this clearly seems to amuse the latter who’s now smirking.

Attempting to save the situation, he shakes his head quickly and says, “No no, I should probably change actually! You look - uh - well, you look great.” Baekhyun’s smirk turns into a satisfied grin and he’s starting to feel like he’s going to melt under his crush’s gaze, desperately trying to think of a way to get out of this situation.

Luckily the way out comes in the form of his housemate, his voice calling out, “Chanyeol, what’s taking you so long?”, before his head pops around the doorway, his mouth falling open in an ‘O’ shape. Chanyeol shoots him a pleading look, hoping it’ll make sense, and luckily his housemate seems to understand.

He nods slightly at Chanyeol before saying, “Well, what are you two doing waiting in the hallway? Come in, Baekhyun”, and he reaches out to touch Baekhyun’s arm. Baekhyun eyes Chanyeol’s torso one more time, the latter having forgotten about covering up the holes, before turning to Kyungsoo.

A mischievous grin appears on Baekhyun’s lips as he says, “How’s my favourite little chef?”

The comment earns him a glare and a mumble of, “Just come into the living room”, from Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol watches them disappear through the doorway, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves before following after them. He’s really not surprised at all when he walks in to see Baekhyun sitting on Jongdae’s lap, the two of them laughing over some inside joke or something. He tries to ignore his thoughts and the jealous feeling starting to bubble in the pit of his stomach, hates that he feels such an ugly feeling around his friends.

He leans in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt Kyungsoo’s cooking or the deep conversation his crush and friend seem to be having. Watching over all his friends, he suddenly realises that he’s not as well dressed as them all. He feels himself attempting to make himself smaller, and really he kind of feels like trash compared to the others in the house. He starts to back away as Kyungsoo walks to the table with a dish of some sorts, planning on heading up to his room to at least make himself look more presentable.

He only manages to take 2 steps backwards and turn away from the door before he hears Kyungsoo say, “Where are you going?”

He cringes as he turns back around, aware that everyone’s eyes are now on him, and he stumbles over his words before finally getting out, “I was just going to change into something a bit neater, freshen up a little y’know?”

He hears Jongdae let out a loud laugh and say, “What a surprise.”

However, he’s more focused on Baekhyun’s grin and him softly saying, “Cute.” He blushes once again, planning on retreating to his room, but Kyungsoo clears his throat to get Chanyeol’s attention once again.

Chanyeol looks back at his housemate, who shakes his head and says, “Food is ready, and I'm not going to let yours go cold because you feel underdressed. Sit down.”

Chanyeol lets out a whine of, “But Kyungsoo”, yet he still makes his way over to the table, sitting down in the seat Kyungsoo’s pointing at.

He’s feeling a little like a kid being told off by his mother, but he’s sure his housemate means well, plus the food looks and smells amazing so maybe it’s not all bad. He’s expecting the meal to go one way: Baekhyun and Jongdae shamelessly flirting whilst Kyungsoo sends him looks that translate to ‘you’re an idiot, talk to him’.

He’s surprised, however, when Baekhyun sits opposite him and spends most of the meal with his focus on him. Chanyeol knows he’s blushing the whole meal, but he can’t quite control himself in between Baekhyun staring at him, and Baekhyun giving him his undivided attention as he talks about a song he’s currently working on. He also can’t stop grinning, looking like an excitable puppy as he explains a perfect chord progression he found to Baekhyun. He’s so excited to be explaining his creations to someone who’s actually paying attention that he completely misses Baekhyun’s affectionate smile.

He also completely misses that Jongdae and Kyungsoo are next to them literally chatting about him being so excited to have Baekhyun’s attention. It also seems neither Baekhyun or Chanyeol notice Jongdae’s many attempts to be flirty towards Kyungsoo throughout the meal, clearly finding the latter’s disinterest a fun challenge.

The meal ends too fast, Chanyeol feeling himself start to deflate because he knows that probably means Baekhyun will leave and the moment will be over. He tries to cherish the moment whilst it’s still happening though, grinning as he listens to Baekhyun remembering when he used to sing back when they were in high school. Baekhyun reaches over to squeeze Chanyeol’s arm gently as he reminds Chanyeol of when they used to say they’d start a pop duo in high school, a fond smile on his lips.

Chanyeol, attempting not to let the smallest touch affect him, grins at Baekhyun and exclaims, “I just had the best idea! You should totally sing on one of my songs.”

Baekhyun flusters instantly, a pretty pink dusting his cheeks as he says, “Oh no, I can’t. I'm not good enough for you, you deserve the best.”

Chanyeol smiles softly, taking Baekhyun’s hand in his as he says, “Baekhyun, you’re easily one of the best singers I know, if I deserve the best then that’s you.”

Chanyeol sort of feels like he’s dreaming when Baekhyun blushes a deeper shade and says, “You’re so lovely Chanyeol, I'm so lucky to have you.” Baekhyun squeezes Chanyeol’s hand, and for a moment Chanyeol thinks he’s going to move his hand away, but he just moves it to intertwine their fingers instead.

Not wanting the night to end yet, Chanyeol asks, “Do you want to stay for tea or coffee?”

Even though it’s a question open to all guests, it’s clear Chanyeol’s only asking Baekhyun. Baekhyun looks adorable when he grins at Chanyeol and says, “Do you have hot chocolate?”

Chanyeol sort of wants to ruffle his hair and tell him how cute he is but he holds back, shifting his gaze to Kyungsoo instead.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Kyungsoo says, “I guess I'll go make us all hot chocolate then. Come on Jongdae.” He stands and grabs Jongdae’s hand, pulling him into the kitchen with him.

Chanyeol watches them go before turning his attention back to Baekhyun. He’s momentarily confused when Baekhyun starts leaning over the table towards him, but then he just brushes Chanyeol’s hair out of his eyes, laughing softly at Chanyeol’s confused expression. He hovers where he is for a moment, softly saying, “Y’know, you look cute when you don’t try to dress up.”

Before the atmosphere can grow heavier, Baekhyun leans back to his seat. He grins at Chanyeol getting all flustered and says, “I don’t know why you tried to cover the holes in your shirt though, it’s not like I haven’t seen you shirtless in high school.”

Chanyeol kicks Baekhyun under the table, grinning in satisfaction when his foot meets Baekhyun’s shin. Baekhyun flips him off in response and pouts until Chanyeol says, “Oh stop acting like a baby, you deserved that.”

Baekhyun’s about to retort but Jongdae and Kyungsoo enter with hot chocolates and his attention is stolen away. Chanyeol expects them to sit back down, but Kyungsoo just places down 2 hot chocolates before leading an amused Jongdae back into the kitchen. They leave silently and Kyungsoo has an unamused look on his face. Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s eyes meet before they burst into laughter, the both of them reaching for their hot chocolates to place them in front of themselves.

Once their laughter dies down, Chanyeol takes a sip of his hot chocolate. When he places his mug back down, Baekhyun starts laughing at him, attempting to stifle it with his hand. Cocking his head in confusion, Chanyeol asks, “What?”

Baekhyun leans forwards again, but this time he wipes his thumb across Chanyeol’s upper lip, fondly saying, “You’re such a mess, Park Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol pouts but internally he’s squealing, trying to remember the feeling of Baekhyun’s thumb running over his lip. They finish their drinks in between childish bickering over who’s more likely to accidentally break a priceless vase at a museum. Chanyeol’s hardly happy when the verdict they reach is that it’s him, so he’s pouting when Jongdae returns and suggests to Baekhyun that they head out.

Agreeing with Jongdae, Baekhyun stands. The two guests start gathering their bags and coats, getting ready to head home. Chanyeol moves to stand near the door to the hallway awkwardly to keep out of the way, not sure what to do with himself as they thank Kyungsoo for the food and say goodbye to him. They make their way over to Chanyeol then, and he finds himself with an armful of Jongdae, the boy squeezing him tightly as he hugs him.

He chuckles at the feeling, lightly squeezing the man back as he says, “Hey, thanks for the help Jongdae, I'd be lost without you.” There’s a cough and Chanyeol looks up to see Baekhyun standing there with a pout on his lips. He looks adorable and Chanyeol just wants to kiss the pout away, but instead he just cocks his head at him confusedly.

Baekhyun’s still pouting but his eyes are sparkling with amusement as he says, “What about me, Chanyeol? Would you be lost without me too?”

Chanyeol’s grateful that Jongdae has stepped aside and Baekhyun has stepped into his arms instead because Baekhyun can’t see his blush this way. He rests his chin on Baekhyun’s head as he says, “Of course I would Baek, I'd be a wreck without you”, his tone jokey even though his words are sincere. 

He adores the feeling of his crush giggling in his arms, and he feels slightly empty when Baekhyun pulls away from him. He’s sure that this night has just been a dream and that he’ll never get to experience something like it again.

But then Baekhyun’s grinning at him as he says, “I'd love to see you working on the song, can we use one of the Uni studio’s tomorrow?”

Chanyeol feels like his cheeks might burst with how much he’s grinning, nodding eagerly in response. Baekhyun grins back, and then Jongdae is tugging his arm and whining, “Baek I'm tired, let’s go.”

The former laughs as he says, “Alright alright, I'm coming”, and he winks at Chanyeol before following Jongdae out of the house.

Chanyeol waits for about 10 seconds after the door is shut, positive they won’t be in hearing range as he shouts, “What the fuck just happened?”

He stumbles into the living room, Kyungsoo laughing at him as he says, “Kyungsoo seriously, what just happened?”

His housemate continues clearing the table, only pausing to say, “That was Baekhyun flirting with you, Chanyeol”, before moving into the kitchen.

Chanyeol flops face down onto the couch, voice muffled as he calls back, “No, that can’t be it, he was just being nice.” He hears a snort of laughter, head lifting up to glare at Kyungsoo who seems to find his confusion hilarious. 

His housemate puts the plates he’s holding back on the table, turning to fully look at him, and Chanyeol knows he’s about to have a serious conversation. He sighs before saying, “Chanyeol, are you really telling me right now that you don’t think he was flirting with you at all?”

Chanyeol nods his head as best he can in his lying down position, which isn’t easy. Kyungsoo gets the message though, sighing even louder before saying, “Did you really not see him staring at the holes in your basically see-through shirt the whole evening?”

Chanyeol stares at him blankly, almost like he thinks Kyungsoo’s insane. Kyungsoo lets out a groan of, “Jesus, you’re so oblivious”, before moving back to the kitchen.

He ignores Chanyeol’s loud whines of, “Kyungsoo, you’re not helping”, and only returns to the living room when the whines have turned into quiet grumbles. 

It’s only after the two of them sit in silence for 10 minutes, which never happens thanks to Chanyeol’s constant need to fill silence, that Kyungsoo decides to help his distressed friend. He closes his laptop and turns to face Chanyeol, who’s staring into space with a confused look on his face, clearly not aware of his surroundings at all. Kyungsoo has to shake his arm several times before Chanyeol blinks and turns to look at him, a pout on his lips.

He sighs, reaching up to ruffle his friend's hair as he says, “Chanyeol, think about it, he wants to spend time with you in a studio.”

When he doesn’t get much response, he continues with, “Alone. Just the two of you.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen as he says, “Baekhyun wants to spend time with me? Alone?”, and he looks like he’s just been told he won the lottery.

Kyungsoo laughs, a soft smile settling on his lips as he says, “Yes, and I'm not saying that means anything, but life’s giving you a chance and you need to take it.”

Chanyeol groans, resting his head on Kyungsoo’s shoulder as he mumbles out, “I thought you don’t even like Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo chuckles, sitting up more to make it more comfortable for his tall friend, as he says, “Funnily enough I happen to like you being happy, and if Baekhyun makes you happy, then I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it.”

Chanyeol finally lets out a quiet laugh at that and his housemate smiles as he adds, “Plus I guess he’s not a terrible person, just a bit loud.”

Chanyeol sits up and stares at Kyungsoo, blurting out, “Wait are you giving me your approval?”

He gets a snort of laughter in response and his housemate shoves him lightly as he says, “I'm not your mum, idiot! Now, you should go to bed.”

Chanyeol splutters out something about him being a hypocrite, but he keeps yawning pretty soon afterwards and ends up following his housemate's advice reluctantly.

That night he falls asleep to thoughts of spending hours alone with Baekhyun, no one around to steal his crushes attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you fancy talking to me on Tumblr then you can find me at @soft-jihoonie.
> 
> A massive thank you to Sarah (@ghstgrrl on here and @lovjeon on Tumblr), who will deny that she was my guardian angel whilst I was writing this, but put up with my rambling about this fic and gave me inspiration whenever I got stuck on a chapter, I couldn't have completed this fic without her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post another chapter tonight to get the fic going, I hope you enjoy it. Some new people appear in this chapter who will have a large part in the fic.

Chanyeol knows he’s being over the top, but he dresses up as nicely as he can whilst still looking casual the next morning. He also styles his hair up in the way Jongdae had said made him “look way fuckable.”

He irritates Kyungsoo with his excitable chattering in the morning, and can barely pay attention to his lecture. He’s literally bouncing in his seat the whole time and Jae, a friend he’d made through the uni course, has to grab his shoulders to stop him.

He squeezes Chanyeol’s shoulders lightly as he says, “Dude, chill out. You look like you’re about to launch off”, before turning back to squint at his ineligible notes he’d written thanks to Chanyeol’s movements. Chanyeol forces himself to stay still for his friend's sake, and so his lecturer will stop shooting glances his way, but his mind is still buzzing with thoughts of getting to be alone with his crush. 

He almost sprints out of the room at the end of his lecture, before realising he doesn’t actually know where he’s meeting Baekhyun, slowing down his steps to pull out his phone. It’s because he’s on his phone that he doesn’t notice Baekhyun’s waiting outside the room until he hears, “Who you texting?”, right next to his ear. 

He jumps in shock, tripping over his own feet, but Baekhyun quickly wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him back up to standing before his knees can even touch the floor. Chanyeol knows his cheeks are bright red and he’s not sure if it’s because 1. he tripped in front of his crush, 2. his crush is currently basically hugging him to keep him up, or 3. his crush spoke into his ear and was so close to his face he kinda forgot how to breathe. He decides it’s probably all 3 as Baekhyun steps away from him, a smirk on his lips as he eyes the taller man and his burning cheeks.

The two of them stare at each other for a moment before Chanyeol realises he hadn’t answered the question, blush deepening as he blurts out. “You. I was about to text you.”

His crushes smirk stretches into a grin, and he links his arm around Chanyeol’s arm as he says, “Well you’ve found me, so let’s go.”

The walk over to the university studio Chanyeol’s booked to use for a few hours is short, and he can’t stop grinning the whole way. Baekhyun doesn’t let go of him the whole time as he loudly chatters about how excited he is to see Chanyeol working on music, and the taller man is utterly mesmerized. Maybe if he wasn’t so caught up in glancing at Baekhyun, whilst making sure they get to the right studio, then he would’ve noticed that several people make passes to flirt with Baekhyun, and they all get ignored. He doesn’t see the confused expressions left in a trail behind them, because everyone on campus knows Baekhyun would never miss out on a chance to flirt with anyone, and yet he does just that. It’s no secret that Baekhyun flirts for the fun of it, that it doesn’t actually mean anything more to him. Well, it’s no secret to everyone but Park Chanyeol, who somehow has missed out on that well-known fact, probably due to his pining after Baekhyun.

Chanyeol feels his nerves building as he opens the studio door to let Baekhyun in, his mind buzzing at the thought of _he’s actually here with me, we’re going to be in a room alone together whilst he watches me composing_. He’s incredibly glad that Baekhyun is a chatty person, letting him fill the silence with his chatter as Chanyeol tries to remember how to act like a normal person rather than a smitten idiot. Luckily, he can put his silence down to the fact that he’s setting up the studio the way he needs it for working on his songs.

Eventually, he has to settle down in a seat in front of the computer, Baekhyun rolling his chair over to his side with an excited look on his face. Chanyeol ignores his own thoughts of _wow he’s so beautiful_ and instead focuses on opening up files he needs, answering Baekhyun’s excited questions as he does so. He tries not to think about the fact that Baekhyun is leaning right into his personal space to look at the screen, his hands shaky as he attempts to pick up where he’d left off on his current project.

The session starts to go a little more smoothly once Chanyeol manages to relax a little. He’s still very much aware of how close his crush is to him, but he allows himself to enjoy it. Of course, it also helps that he can throw his all into the song he’s working on, his mind mainly focusing on that. Honestly, he’s not sure how he was expecting the session to go, he figured Baekhyun would just watch him compose and most likely ask a lot of questions. He definitely wasn’t expecting Baekhyun to take his hand in his when he starts getting frustrated, softly encouraging him and telling him that it’s okay, that he can take his time.

He tenses up in shock when Baekhyun takes his hand but finds he can quickly relax with the thumb rubbing against his hand and his soft reassurances. When Baekhyun pulls his hand away, most likely to allow Chanyeol to keep composing, Chanyeol’s hand feels like it’s burning but his chest feels slightly hollow due to his disappointment. That feeling disappears relatively quickly, however, when Baekhyun loudly laughs at a stupid joke Chanyeol makes, looking as ethereal as always. Chanyeol feels like he may even be dreaming when Baekhyun sings for him to help him with a part of the melody he’s struggling with. A fond smile appears on his lips as Baekhyun sings, but he’s blushing and looking away not long after thanks to Baekhyun catching him staring.

He’s beyond happy, feeling like the luckiest man right now because Baekhyun’s giving him his full attention. But then there’s a knock on the door and Chanyeol finds himself thinking of course, I should’ve known this wouldn’t last. He knows he’s being slightly dramatic, so he forces himself to relax as he calls out, “Come in.” 

He’s so focused on his own tension that he doesn’t notice Baekhyun deflating slightly on hearing the knock on the door, doesn’t notice Baekhyun pouting at Chanyeol’s attention being stolen away. The door opens and Chanyeol visibly relaxes as he sees his friend, Yoongi, come into view.

His dopey grin returns as he says, “Hey Yoongi, what’s up?”

Yoongi shifts uncomfortably under Baekhyun’s glare but says, “I know you’re booked to use the studio, I mean you probably have an assignment to finish. None of the others are free though, and I just really need to finish this song before Jimin’s birthday.”

A fond smile appears on Chanyeol’s lips as he says, “Of course, let me just save everything and then it’s all yours.” He absolutely adores Yoongi and his boyfriend, he really thinks they’re the cutest couple on campus, and it’s amusing to see how soft Yoongi turns for Jimin. 

Yoongi thanks him, stepping into the room and attempting to look anywhere but at Baekhyun, who still seems intent on burning Yoongi with his stare. Of course, Chanyeol’s oblivious as he saves his project onto his USB stick, but when he turns around, he catches Baekhyun’s angry glare before the latter covers it up with his usual cheeky grin.

A frown appears on Chanyeol’s lips as he says, “You don’t mind if we give up the studio, right Baekhyun? Sorry, this was probably a waste of time for you.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen and he frantically shakes his head as he says, “No of course not, I was really enjoying myself.” Chanyeol cocks his head, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to understand why Baekhyun seemed angry if he didn’t mind.

He’s thinking that maybe Baekhyun’s lying just to spare his feelings, but then Baekhyun looks away and mumbles out, “I just - can we still hang out now?”

A large grin appears on Chanyeol’s lips before he says, “Yeah, of course, we can go get coffee or something.” Baekhyun instantly brightens up again, and neither of them notice Yoongi chuckling and shaking his head. 

Yoongi rolls his eyes as they head out from the studio because he just witnessed the flirtiest boy on campus getting shy, and Chanyeol still seemed oblivious that he was the cause of it. He quickly remembers he’s got a song to make perfect for his boyfriend however, and rushes over to the computer, allowing the door to fall shut behind Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

Outside the confines of the recording studio, Chanyeol suddenly becomes aware of how many passing students stare at Baekhyun, and he gets the urge to wrap an arm around him and growl “mine.” He doesn’t of course, instead, he tries to shake the thoughts from his mind and says, “Shall we go to the usual cafe?”

He should be used to Baekhyun’s touch by now, but his heart still races when the smaller man links arms with him and cheerily says, “Let’s go.”

He allows Baekhyun to practically drag him to the cafe, and this time he can’t stop noticing the interested looks sent Baekhyun’s way. The latter must notice he’s distracted as he keeps shooting questions at Chanyeol to keep him engaged in the conversation. Chanyeol feels bad for not giving Baekhyun his full attention, but his jealousy is rearing it’s ugly head more and more with every flirty look that gets sent his crush’s way.

By the time they’re waiting in line at the cafe, Chanyeol is practically pressed against Baekhyun’s back, attempting to give off a vibe that screams, “Fuck off”, to everyone who so much as looks at Baekhyun. His mind is screaming you’re being stupid, he’s not your boyfriend but he doesn’t miss the way Baekhyun leans back into his chest, humming the melody of Chanyeol’s song. Chanyeol forgets all about his jealousy, all his tension melting away at the sound of Baekhyun humming his song.

Chanyeol insists on paying for drinks as they wait, because he may be a broke university student, but he’s a smitten one. Baekhyun only protests a little before giving in. It’s no secret to anyone that he loves to be spoiled, even if it’s with the smallest action. Baekhyun tells the cashier his drink, and before Chanyeol can say anything, he orders Chanyeol’s favourite drink too. Chanyeol can’t help the grin that appears on his face at the thought that Baekhyun has memorized his order. He winces slightly at the price, because Baekhyun decided to get a new special drink the cafe’s started making, but pays without any grumbling.

He asks Baekhyun to go find them a table as he waits for their order, oblivious to Baekhyun’s reluctance to leave his side. He feels himself start to tense again without Baekhyun near him, but the wait is worth it when he brings over the drinks. Baekhyun’s drink is covered in whipped cream and the shorter man’s face lights up like an excited puppy the moment he sees it. Chanyeol can’t help but grin as he watches Baekhyun staring at it mesmerized before excitedly taking a sip. He puts his cup back on the table, licking the whipped cream from his lips. Chanyeol watches him do so almost hungrily, before bursting into giggles at the blob of whipped cream on Baekhyun’s nose.

Baekhyun pouts, whining out, “What? Why are you laughing at me?”

Chanyeol doesn’t know where the confidence comes from, maybe his fondness overrides his nerves. He reaches over the table and wipes the whipped cream off the tip of Baekhyun’s nose with his finger. He hums in thought for a moment before looking at Baekhyun and bringing his hand up to his own mouth, licking the whipped cream off his finger. The two of them are caught in a moment as Baekhyun stares, eyes darkening with what Chanyeol can only hope is want.

Chanyeol’s so close to pulling Baekhyun closer and kissing him, even though they’re in a crowded cafe, but then a voice says, “Chanyeol? Is that you?”, and the moment breaks. He lets out a sigh as he turns to see who called him, but his frown quickly turns into a grin.

He stands quickly, opening his arms up for a hug as he says, “Sehun! What are you doing here?”

Sehun easily fits into his arms, hugging him tight as he says, “I just started working here. How could you drop me so quickly when you started uni, asshole?”

Chanyeol laughs, knows there’s no fire to Sehun’s words as he replies, “I can’t even find the time to make a proper visit home, which means unfortunately not getting to see my adorable neighbour either. Do you know how busy university makes me?”

Sehun mutters out, “Twat”, but he’s still got a fond smile on his lips as he steps out of Chanyeol’s arms.

He leans to the side to look behind Chanyeol, a smirk appearing on his lips as he says, “Who’s this grumpy hottie? Your boyfriend?” 

Chanyeol splutters out a mess of words in confusion before turning to look where Sehun’s looking, a soft smile appearing on his lips the moment he locks eyes with a disgruntled looking Baekhyun.

He turns back to Sehun then and says, “This is Baekhyun, I've known him for years now, I'm sure the two of you would have met.”

Sehun shrugs, eyeing Baekhyun once more before saying, “Maybe, but I think I'd remember such a cutie.” Chanyeol lets out a fond laugh, lightly slapping at Sehun’s arm, who over dramatically yelps in return.

He notices the cafe owner attempting to signal for Sehun to come over, and he says, “Hey, I think you’re needed, but give me your number so we can hang out.” 

Sehun mumbles something about how Chanyeol could have asked for his number before he moved to uni, but he takes Chanyeol’s phone anyway and types in his number. He passes the phone back, hand lingering on Chanyeol’s for a moment more than was needed, not that Chanyeol notices. He grumbles at Chanyeol ruffling his hair, attempting to smooth it back in to place.

As he does so, he says, “Okay, well don’t forget to text me, I'm not waiting another 2 years to see you.”

He turns to Baekhyun then, a smirk on his lips as he says, “And maybe I'll see you around cutie”, which earns him a playful shove away from the table by Chanyeol.

Chanyeol turns back to look at his crush, who’s now pretty much pouting, and he tries not to squeal over how cute he looks. Instead, he chuckles and says, “Sorry about Sehun, he’s a brat but he’s a good guy, he just enjoys a bit of a flirt.”

Baekhyun seems to realise he’s being spoken to, shaking his head momentarily and his pout disappearing. He scoops some whipped cream up with his finger, humming around his finger as he sucks the whipped cream off. Chanyeol wills himself not to think anything other than how cute Baekhyun is, grateful when Baekhyun starts speaking.

Baekhyun leans forward on the table as he says, “You seem close with him”, and there’s an unreadable look in his eyes.

Chanyeol smiles softly as he says, “Yeah, I mean I've known him since we were kids. He was adorable growing up, but he turned into a right brat as a teenager.”

Baekhyun doesn’t look at him as he says, “You never mentioned him though, not all through high school”, and his eyes seem to be following Sehun around the cafe.

Chanyeol doesn’t know how to read the mood of the conversation, forcing out a light chuckle as he says, “Well I wouldn’t be surprised if teenage Chanyeol was embarrassed about having a younger friend. How stupid is that?”

Baekhyun’s attention finally returns to him, letting out a small laugh as he says, “Yeah, pretty silly.”

Chanyeol studies Baekhyun for a second, mouth opening to ask if Baekhyun’s okay. He’s quickly cut off though when Baekhyun says, “So the song you’re writing, is it for anyone?”, and Chanyeol cocks his head in confusion at the question.

Baekhyun stares at his drink as he says, “I mean, Yoongi was writing a song for his boyfriend, who are you writing yours for?” 

Chanyeol just shrugs, before realising Baekhyun’s not looking at him, so he says, “I don’t know, myself I guess? It’s not a sentimental song or anything, just something for an assignment.”

Baekhyun snorts out a laugh, a smirk pulling at his lips as he says, “Well that’s boring, where’s the romance in that?”

Chanyeol sends a light kick to Baekhyun’s shin under the table, and relishes in the whine Baekhyun lets out before he says, “Chanyeol! How can you do that? Kiss it better.”

Chanyeol laughs loudly, nudging Baekhyun’s shin with his foot as he says, “Get over it, you big baby. I'm not kissing your shin.”

Baekhyun pouts again before saying, “If anyone’s a big baby, it’s you. Who cries over a video of puppies?”, and his trademark grin is back.

It’s Chanyeol’s turn to pout as he says, “Hey! I was having a bad day, and they’d been rescued and nursed back to health.” He’s sure he’s just proving Baekhyun’s point by now.

Baekhyun’s grin softens though, reaching forward to squeeze Chanyeol’s hand as he says, “I know I know, you’re so cute.”

Chanyeol’s heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest and his stomach feels like it’s doing flips. Baekhyun laughs as he says, “Hey, it’s okay that you cried, don’t look so embarrassed.” Chanyeol can’t decide if he’s happy or not that Baekhyun’s misunderstood his red cheeks for embarrassment.

He forces out a laugh before the moment gets awkward, flicking at Baekhyun’s hand as he whines out, “Stop teasing me, you’re so mean.”

Baekhyun smirks and says, “You love it”, before the two of them both take sips from their drinks. Baekhyun starts up a conversation about a different topic then, and the two of them settle into easy conversation. Baekhyun’s phone keeps vibrating against the table but he ignores it in favour of listening to Chanyeol ramble about a tv show.

When the phone starts vibrating consistently from a phone call though, Chanyeol’s voice trails off and he says, “You should answer that, someone’s urgent to talk to you.”

Baekhyun mumbles out a quick apology before pressing answer on his phone screen and bringing it up to his ear, voice loud as he says, “What is it, Jongdae?”

He listens to whatever Jongdae’s saying for a moment before saying, “Sorry, I'm just out right now, what’s wrong lovely?” Chanyeol watches as Baekhyun listens to Jongdae, watches his eyes widen at something.

He’s silent for a few moments more before saying, “Hey, it’s okay, I'll head home now. Do you need me to get anything?” Chanyeol frowns in worry, because Baekhyun and Jongdae rarely talk to each other seriously unless something is wrong.

Baekhyun says a few more things before hanging up the phone, a frown on his lips as he says, “I'm sorry, I have to go home.”

Chanyeol nods understandingly as he says, “Is everything okay? Can I do anything to help?”

Baekhyun’s features soften as he says, “No, it’s okay, thank you. Just some family stuff that’s come up, I don’t think he can be alone right now.”

Chanyeol nods again, reaches for Baekhyun’s hand to squeeze it as he says, “I understand, send Jongdae my love.” Baekhyun nods, moving to stand and pick up his bag. 

He moves over to where Chanyeol’s sitting and leans in to hug him, Chanyeol hugging him back a little tighter than usual. Baekhyun lingers for a moment longer than usual as he quietly says, “Thank you for today, I had fun”, before pulling back and forcing his usual smile on his lips.

Chanyeol smiles back softly as he says, “Go see Jongdae, I'll text you later”, and gently nudges Baekhyun to walk away.

He watches Baekhyun head out of the cafe, thoughts full of worry because of how worried Baekhyun had looked. He’s jumping a few moments later though when Sehun loudly says, “What was that about?”

He swivels round to glare at the younger boy, hand clutching his chest as he says, “Don’t scare me like that.”

Sehun moves the cups out of the way and starts wiping down the table, a cheeky tone to his voice as he says, “Answer my question dumbo.” Chanyeol grimaces at the nickname, even though he knows it’s meant fondly, and he flicks the side of Sehun’s head. Even so, he explains to Sehun that something had happened to Baekhyun’s roommate which is why he had to go.

Sehun smirks at Chanyeol as he says, “Okay, but what about when he held your hand? Were you playing footsies?”

Yet another flick hits Sehun’s head as Chanyeol says, “Nah, he was being a dick, stop trying to turn everything into flirting.”

Sehun huffs out a laugh before saying, “Chanyeol, the only person who doesn’t know you’re in love with Baekhyun is Baekhyun himself.”

Chanyeol chokes on his own spit, coughing loudly before saying, “I am not in love with him!”

Sehun laughs loudly as he says, “And I'm the straightest person you’ll ever meet.” He pauses to see Chanyeol’s reaction before grinning and saying, “It’s not good for us to lie to each other.”

Chanyeol just glares at him as he says, “Get back to work, I'm going home.” He still hugs Sehun goodbye though, leaving with a promise to text him when he gets home.

He spends the walk home wondering if he’s really that obvious in his feelings for Baekhyun, wonders if Baekhyun’s noticed. The insecure part of his mind tells him Baekhyun’s noticed and just stays around out of pity. Chanyeol’s always tried to be an optimist though, so he ignores that thought, and instead thinks about how Baekhyun seems to even be being flirty with him now.

By the time he gets home, he’s in an incredibly bubbly mood, can’t quite keep the grin off his face. He ignores Kyungsoo’s question of, “What’s got into you? Did he ask you out or something?”, to instead text Sehun a quick message.

Chanyeol looks up from his phone to be faced by an unimpressed Kyungsoo, but his grin just grows wider as he says, “Guess who I saw today?”

Kyungsoo shrugs, turning back to his laptop with a quiet, “I don’t know? Are you gonna make me say Baekhyun?”

Chanyeol lets out a laugh, his excitableness evident in his voice as he says, “Don’t be stupid, I saw Sehun.”

That catches Kyungsoo’s attention and he turns to look at Chanyeol as he says, “The adorable kid who lived next door to you growing up?”

Chanyeol grin somehow grows even wider as he says, “Yeah! He’s all grown up now though, I barely recognised him”, and the fond look returns.

Kyungsoo chuckles before saying, “He still got a crush on you?” His chuckle turns into a bark of laughter at how fast Chanyeol’s jaw drops open.

Chanyeol lightly shoves Kyungsoo’s chest as he says, “Sehun does not have a crush on me! What the fuck, Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo covers his eyes with his hand exasperatedly, letting out a loud sigh before saying, “Are you always going to be this oblivious?” Chanyeol just pouts in response and Kyungsoo’s face softens at the sight, hand coming up to ruffle to taller man's hair.

Kyungsoo chuckles at Chanyeol batting his hand away, and then asks, “How come you’re home already? I figured you and Baekhyun would be out for hours.”

Chanyeol explains the little he knows about Jongdae and Kyungsoo’s only response is, “And you’re okay with this?”

Chanyeol looks almost offended by this question, quickly responding, “Of course, I'm not going to get upset about him needing to be with his friend who’s going through a hard time!”

Kyungsoo turns back to looking at his laptop screen, but he still continues with, “So what you’re saying is Baekhyun gave you his undivided attention the whole time you were with him, so you felt no need to get upset about him leaving.” He smirks at Chanyeol’s stunned silence, mumbling out, “Nailed it”, and chuckling at Chanyeol’s whines about how unfair it is that he can do that.

He continues to mumble out, “Not my fault you’re an open book.”

Kyungsoo end up’s breaking into laughter again when Chanyeol stands up and says, “Fuck you, I'm going to my room where I can’t be read by weird housemates.”

There’s no fire between his words though and he’s fighting to keep a smile away as Kyungsoo calls out, “You better help me with cooking dinner later.”

Helping cooking dinner actually turns into Kyungsoo banishing Chanyeol to the living room to go and watch tv after he almost drops a bowl with food in it. Chanyeol feels a little like a scolded child when Kyungsoo tells him he’s only allowed back in the kitchen to wash the dishes after dinner.

* * *

Chanyeol would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried that Baekhyun would lose interest. Of course, he doesn’t think Baekhyun would stop being his friend, but he’s been self-indulgently enjoying the extra attention Baekhyun has been giving him. It’s not enough for Chanyeol to think _hey, maybe he likes me_ , but it’s enough to convince him he should put in some effort to at least start subtly flirting with Baekhyun.

He gets to spend at least a week with Baekhyun giving him his full attention when they hang out, which ends up being almost every day. It’s a dream for Chanyeol really, and he’s not sure what’s triggered it, can’t think of anything that would have happened to make Baekhyun want to spend even more time with him. So, for about a week, when Baekhyun’s not doing uni work, attending lectures or spending time with Jongdae, he’s with Chanyeol. He starts to get flirtier with Chanyeol, starts to get more touchy, and it’d maybe not be noticeable if Chanyeol wasn’t always aware of everything Baekhyun does around him.

Chanyeol is very aware that it probably won’t last, but that doesn’t make it feel any less bitter when it happens. He’s rushing to meet Baekhyun at their usual cafe after a lecture, running late because his lecturer had wanted to speak to him about some work placement she thought would be good for Chanyeol. He’s quite literally running too, the text he’d received from Baekhyun, before his lecturer had called him over, had said that he was having a bad day and really needed someone to talk to.

Baekhyun never usually discusses his problems with Chanyeol, he figures his crush usually talks to Jongdae, but with Jongdae in a fragile place, it seems like he’s the next best thing. So he tries not to think about how stupid he must look running through campus, and attempts to run that little bit faster so he won’t keep Baekhyun waiting. By the time he can see the cafe, he slows down to a fast walk. He’s breathing heavily, but not as much as he would be if he hadn’t been going to the gym every week just to feel that little bit better about himself. He attempts to control his breathing as he opens the cafe door, not wanting to look like a completely unfit idiot to add to the list of things he thinks are already wrong with him.

His eyes scan the cafe, trying to locate Baekhyun. He sees that girl, Joy, from a few weeks ago sitting at a table, and does a double take when he realises that the back of the person sitting opposite her is definitely Baekhyun. He tries not to focus on his jealousy that’s already rearing its head, reminding himself that Baekhyun had said he needed him, as he makes his way to their table. The jealousy is harder to ignore as he gets closer and sees the telltale signs of Baekhyun flirting. The moment he’s considering just leaving though, Joy notices him, which consequently means so does Baekhyun. Baekhyun calls him over and Chanyeol quite literally drags his feet over to them, suddenly feeling exhausted from running to the cafe.

It must show on his face as he reaches Baekhyun because his expression turns concerned as he says, “Woah, are you okay? You look kinda ill”. Chanyeol just shrugs, eyes focused on the two drinks in front of Baekhyun and Joy.

He knows he’s really not being subtle as Baekhyun says, “Oh yeah, I wasn’t sure when you’d get here and then I saw Joy, so we decided to get drinks.”

Chanyeol nods, forcing a smile on his lips as he says, “I'll just grab a chair then”, and walks away without hearing an answer.

When he returns, he sits down and attempts to act like his usual bubbly self as he says, “So, what did I miss?”

Baekhyun and Joy share a look and then Baekhyun’s giving him that look that he uses when he’s trying to convince Chanyeol to buy him a drink. Chanyeol stiffens, fists clenching as he hears Baekhyun say, “Well Joy just invited me to her house, so I'm going to go there. Sorry man, hope I didn’t waste too much of your time.”

Chanyeol opens his mouth, maybe to protest, he’s not sure, but Baekhyun says, “Sehun’s working today so you’ll be fine, you can chill with him.” 

Chanyeol watches Baekhyun and Joy stand and gather their things, jealousy and anger threatening to spill out of him. He feels so pathetic for thinking Baekhyun needed him specifically, clearly, Baekhyun just needed anyone. Even through his anger though, he can’t forget about his worry for Baekhyun.

He reaches out to grab Baekhyun’s arm to stop him as he passes, not looking at him as he says, “Wait, are you okay?”

Baekhyun chuckles and Chanyeol looks up in time to see him say, “You’re so cute sometimes” and ruffle Chanyeol’s hair. 

Chanyeol feels angry tears appear in his eyes and he’s grateful that Baekhyun’s already turned and walked away, willing his tears to go away so he doesn’t break down in the cafe. He suddenly feels like Baekhyun probably just sees him as a cute younger friend, hands coming up to angrily smooth down the hair he’d messed up.

He’s about to stand up to leave when he hears Sehun say, “Chanyeol! What can I get you?”, and one look at Sehun has his tears finally spilling.

Sehun’s smile immediately turns into a frown and he says, “Wait one second, let me take my break and then I'll be back to talk.” Chanyeol lets out a small pathetic whimper in response and Sehun pets his head softly before heading over to talk to the owner. About a minute later, Sehun’s appearing with his bag and coat on.

He squeezes Chanyeol’s shoulder as he says, “Si-young let me finish my shift early, let’s get you out of here.” 

The moment Chanyeol’s standing, Sehun’s sliding his hand into his and leading him out of the cafe. They don’t talk as they walk, Sehun seemingly set on going to a certain place and Chanyeol focusing too much on trying to control his emotions to really care. After about a 5 minute walk, Sehun’s leading him into a little park, heading towards a little woods at the edge of it, supposedly for privacy. He doesn’t let go of Chanyeol’s hand the whole time, not even when they reach a bench amongst the trees and settle down on it.

Chanyeol had thought he’d got his emotions under control, but the moment Sehun asks what’s wrong, he’s crying again. He tells Sehun everything, from how long he’s liked Baekhyun to Baekhyun’s behaviour the last few weeks. Sehun listens attentively the whole time, gently holding Chanyeol’s hand, but the moment Chanyeol explains what had happened in the cafe, he tenses. Chanyeol winces slightly and Sehun quickly loosens his grip, but he’s clearly still angry. 

Chanyeol shrinks into himself a little as he mumbles out, “Do you think I'm stupid for getting upset? Are you angry that you left your shift for this?” Sehun’s features immediately soften, and he pulls Chanyeol into a tight hug.

He rubs Chanyeol’s back as he softly says, “I'm not angry at you at all, I'm angry at that idiot, Baekhyun. You have every right to be upset babe.” 

Chanyeol shuffles closer to Sehun and ends up sobbing into his shoulder, choking out almost incoherent sentences about how stupid he is and how Baekhyun’s never going to like him. The whole time Sehun holds him close and reassures him that he’s not stupid and that Baekhyun’s an idiot if he’s not interested in him. Chanyeol knows he’s being pretty over the top, but he’s letting out emotions that he’s been holding in for a long time, and it’s hard to stop once the flood gates open.

Eventually, it starts to get a little darker and Sehun leans back to wipe Chanyeol’s tears away before kissing his forehead lightly. He insists on walking Chanyeol home, dismissing Chanyeol’s protests with, “You’re probably dehydrated from all that crying, I'm not letting you walk home alone when you could faint.” 

So Chanyeol lets Sehun walk home with him, grateful that he fills the walk with rambling about customers he’s served at the cafe.

By the time they get to Chanyeol’s house, there’s actually a smile on his lips as Sehun tries his hardest to make him laugh. Even so, Kyungsoo takes one look at Chanyeol as they walk into the living room and says to Sehun, “What happened?”

Sehun grimaces as he says, “Baekhyun happened”, before adding, “I'm just going to get Chanyeol a glass of water, you should talk to him.” Kyungsoo leads Chanyeol over to the couch, sitting next to him and giving him a look that says ‘spill’.

Chanyeol’s glad he pretty much cried himself out earlier because he manages to tell Kyungsoo about what happened at the cafe without spilling a single tear. Kyungsoo’s features harden the more Chanyeol talks until his eyebrows are furrowed and there’s a firm frown on his lips. He looks like he’s about to maybe start lecturing Chanyeol for always wanting to please Baekhyun. 

Chanyeol’s not sure he can handle that though, and he’s grateful when Sehun returns with a glass of water for him, quickly starting to drink it. Realising how thirsty he actually is, he keeps drinking whilst he listens to Kyungsoo and Sehun properly re-introduce themselves. He knows they’ve met in the past when Kyungsoo would come to Chanyeol’s after school and Sehun wanted to hang out with the older kids. It’s different now though, Sehun’s grown up, lost all of his cute child like features to a sharp jawline and lips that are almost permanently in a smirk.

Chanyeol finishes his water but keeps quiet so he can keep watching his two friends interact. Kyungsoo seems satisfied with how Sehun’s changed, Sehun no longer clinging onto every word Kyungsoo says like he did when they were younger. Chanyeol finally tunes into their conversation, actually taking the words in rather than just hearing noise. 

He hears Sehun say, “And when he looks like a kicked puppy I just wanna hide him from the world”, and sees Kyungsoo nodding in agreement.

It takes him a moment before he realises they’re talking about him and he calls out, “Hey! Quit talking about me like I'm a baby, I'm a grown adult.” The two of them turn to look at him as if just remembering he’s there.

Kyungsoo scoffs and says, “Says the guy who cried over a movie about a dog the other day.”

Sehun bursts into loud laughter as Chanyeol grumbles out, “Adults can cry, shut up”, even though his words are drowned out by Sehun’s laughs.

Kyungsoo still hears him though, moving to sit next to Chanyeol as he says, “Whatever you say, Chanyeol.”

Sehun’s laughter dies out and a comfortable silence falls on them. It’s shattered moments later when Sehun pushes himself down to sit between the two of them, shoving with his elbows and eliciting ow’s and get the fuck off’s from the two older men. With a great deal of shuffling to accommodate for the younger, they finally find a comfortable squeeze on the couch that’s probably only meant for two people. Sehun continues his conversation with Kyungsoo about their apparent need to protect Chanyeol from the world, and Chanyeol eventually gives up on protesting against the conversation.

He finds a smile slowly creeping onto his lips the more he hears his friends talking about him affectionately, irritation at them discussing him like he’s not in the room disappearing. He’s quite content to just listen to their conversation, happy his friends are connecting, and too tired out from the day to contribute to the conversation.

The relaxed atmosphere of the room is broken the moment Chanyeol’s phone starts ringing, however, the noise startling him. He fishes his phone out of his bag, aware of his friends now staring at him, and he sucks in a breath when he sees Baekhyun’s who’s calling. Sehun leans into him to see the phone screen and the moment he does, he tries to grab the phone. Chanyeol reacts so fast he surprises himself, springing to his feet and stepping away from the couch before Sehun can take the phone off him.

Sehun narrows his eyes at him and says, “Chanyeol, I swear to god if you answer him.”

His words trail off into, “Chanyeol, what the fuck?”, when Chanyeol taps his finger on answer and lifts the phone up to his ear, hesitantly saying, “Hello?”

Kyungsoo rushes over to him, clearly having realised who’s calling, loudly saying, “Hang up”, as he holds his hand out for the phone.

Baekhyun finally speaks, voice sounding fragile as he says, “Sorry, is this a bad time?”

Chanyeol frantically responds, “No no, just give me a moment.” He walks away from his friends to the kitchen, hoping they’ll have the sense not to follow him, and when he settles to sitting on a counter he’s relieved to see neither of them trailing after him.

He takes a breath to calm himself before saying, “Okay, I'm good, what’s up?”

Baekhyun lets out a shaky breath before saying, “Are you sure you’re okay to chat? I thought you weren’t going to pick up for a moment there.” He follows it with chuckling, but it sounds so incredibly forced.

Chanyeol feel’s like someone is pricking his heart with a pin, he hates hearing Baekhyun sounding so upset, and says, “Baekhyun, are you okay?”

His question is ignored, Baekhyun instead blurting out, “I wanted to apologise for earlier, I was... God, I was such an asshole.”

Silence falls as Chanyeol tries to comprehend that he’s being apologised to, only broken when Baekhyun says, “Chanyeol? Are you there?”

Chanyeol shakes his head in an attempt to bring himself back to the moment, only managing to mumble out, “Yes, yeah, I'm here.”

He hears a little sigh of relief and then Baekhyun says, “I made you rush to come and meet me, and then I ditched you for a girl the moment you got there. I don’t know why I couldn’t even wait 10 minutes for you to arrive.”

He goes silent before letting out a bitter chuckle and saying, “She didn’t even make me feel better. I mean, what did I expect? That fucking a girl would make me feel any less upset afterwards?”

Chanyeol winces at Baekhyun’s admission to the reason he’d gone to Joy’s. It’s not a surprise to him because he’s not stupid enough to not read between the lines, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Baekhyun continues after more silence, voice frustrated as he says, “I should’ve waited for you. I know you would have cheered me up like you always do.”

Eventually, after his only response is Chanyeol’s deep breathing, he chokes out, “Chanyeol? Are you listening?”

Chanyeol just mumbles out, “I'm listening”, and Baekhyun takes that as a cue to keep rambling.

He sighs before saying, “I keep treating you like this and I don’t know why you let me do it. Why do you keep helping me even when I'm an asshole to you?”

Because I love you. That’s what Chanyeol wants to say. He wants to shout ‘i’m so in love with you and I can’t let go’ and tell Baekhyun everything about how he feels for him.

Instead, he settles for saying, “Because I'm your friend, Baek. I’m your friend and I care about you.” His chest feels so tight, he feels such a strong need to tell Baekhyun just how much he cares, but he won’t. Baekhyun’s silent for a moment, little sniffles carrying over the phone.

Eventually, he says, “I'm sorry Chanyeol”, once again and Chanyeol can’t bring himself to ignore it anymore.

He grips the edge of the counter, knuckles turning white as he says, “It’s okay, Baekhyun. I'm not angry with you.” Baekhyun doesn’t seem to fully believe him, starting to mumble something before there’s noise on Baekhyun’s end of the line.

Chanyeol hears a voice say, “Baek? Are you okay?”, and then Baekhyun’s saying, “Jongdae’s home, I have to go Chanyeol, I'm really sorry.”

Chanyeol shrugs before realising Baekhyun can’t see him, quickly saying, “It’s okay, I'll see you soon, yeah?”

He hears a quiet, “Yeah, of course”, and then the line goes silent and Chanyeol realises Baekhyun’s hung up.

He sits there in silence for a moment, finally releasing his grip on the counter edge, stretching out his now stiff fingers. He takes a deep breath before sliding off the counter top and heading into the living room, figuring he might as well face his friends now.

Sure enough, he’s met by two stony glares when he steps into the room, and there’s no doubt the two of them heard Chanyeol telling Baekhyun it was okay. He shuffles over to his bag to put his phone away, trying to shrink himself under their stares. The two of them stay silent until Chanyeol finally squeezes onto the couch next to Sehun again, wriggling around to get comfortable and avoid the tense feeling in the room.

Sehun places a hand on his leg to stop him moving around and then Kyungsoo says, “Chanyeol, please tell me I heard wrong. Please tell me you didn’t tell him it’s okay.”

Chanyeol tenses, he considers lying but Sehun’s still holding onto his leg and would have definitely felt him tense. So instead he sighs, not looking at Kyungsoo as he says, “You didn’t hear wrong, but -”

Immediately he’s cut off by, “But nothing, Chanyeol. If you tell him it’s okay then he’ll do it again.”

Chanyeol shrinks into Sehun’s side to hide from Kyungsoo’s glare. He’s pouting as he whines out, “But he was really sorry Kyungsoo, and he wouldn’t stop rambling, I had to tell him it was okay.”

Kyungsoo sighs, standing up as he mumbles out, “When will you learn?”

Chanyeol’s worried for a second that he’s going to walk away from him but his worries disappear when Kyungsoo walks over and ruffles his hair affectionately. It feels strange for Chanyeol to have to look up at Kyungsoo when he’s usually towering over him, but the motherly feeling his friend gives off makes him feel safe.

Kyungsoo’s voice is soft as he says, “I just don’t want you getting hurt, you know that, right?”, and Chanyeol nods in response.

He’s tensing again moments later, however, when a smirk appears on Kyungsoo’s lips, one that says he’s about to cause trouble.

Kyungsoo loudly says, “Why can’t you just date someone nice instead? What about Sehun?”, and Chanyeol feels Sehun lift his hand off his leg in surprise.

Sehun whines out, “Kyungsoo, what are you saying?” Chanyeol pretends for Sehun’s sake that he can’t see the blush on the younger’s cheeks.

Kyungsoo just laughs, ruffling Sehun’s obviously styled hair, his laughter only getting louder when Sehun bats his hands away with a whine of his name. The two of them start bickering and Chanyeol finds himself relaxing again, the previous moment forgotten quickly as a nostalgic feeling hits him. Despite the youngest not being around for almost 2 years, he easily fits back in with the older two, reminding Chanyeol of his high school days.

Sehun stays for dinner after Kyungsoo insists, the three of them spending the meal making snarky jokes about each other, giggling like carefree teenagers. Sehun insists on doing the washing up, surprising both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol with how much he’s grown up in the time they haven’t seen him. Kyungsoo watches him like a proud mother and Chanyeol often wonders if Kyungsoo forgets that his friends aren’t actually children.

It’s Kyungsoo’s motherly tendencies that insist that Sehun should stay the night, cutting off his denials with, “It’s late and there are no buses running. It’d take you too long to walk back to that side of town.”

Sehun eventually agrees to take the couch but Kyungsoo once again cuts him off with, “Don’t be stupid, you can share Chanyeol’s bed.”

Chanyeol blinks in surprise before shrugging and saying, “Sure, you can borrow some pyjamas too.”

It’s not like he hasn’t shared a bed with Sehun before, the two of them grew up together, but that doesn’t stop Sehun from mumbling out, “I shouldn’t”, and ,“I wouldn’t fit.”

Chanyeol eventually just reaches out to hold onto Sehun’s wrist, pulling him out of the room as he calls out, “Night Kyungsoo, see you in the morning.”

He only loosens his hold on Sehun’s wrist when they’re in his room, moving away from him to find some pyjama trousers for Sehun in his mess of a closet. He chucks a pair in Sehun’s direction before pulling out a pair for himself.

As he starts changing into them, unaware of Sehun’s reddening cheeks, he says, “I don’t wear a shirt to bed so you can either go shirtless too or maybe ask Kyungsoo for something, his clothes would be tight fitting on you though.”

When he gets no answer after removing his shirt, he looks at Sehun who seems to be fidgeting uncomfortably. Putting it down to the younger being self-conscious about changing in front of others, he says, “I'm just gonna go clean my teeth, there’s an unopened toothbrush in the bathroom cupboard you can use.”

He makes his way to the bathroom, silently thanking Kyungsoo for always being prepared and having spares of all the essentials. It doesn’t even cross his mind as he’s cleaning his teeth that he could have flustered Sehun by carelessly getting changed in front of him. In fact, his thoughts mainly revolve around Baekhyun and how he should make sure he’s okay considering he still doesn’t know what’s upsetting him.

He makes his way back to his room, passing Sehun waiting to use the bathroom after him. He feels exhaustion finally hit as he plops down onto his bed, quickly shuffling to cuddle up under his duvet. His bed is only a single so sharing it will be a tight fit but Chanyeol’s always quite liked the warmth of sharing a bed with someone.

He drifts in and out of consciousness, waking again at the sound of his bedroom door opening and closing. He pats the space on the bed next to him as he says, “Turn off the lights and come to bed, I want to sleep.”

Sehun quickly obeys, slowly making his way to the bed now that the room’s been plunged into darkness. He finally slides into bed and Chanyeol can feel how tense he is.

He drapes an arm over Sehun’s chest, pulling him closer as he mumbles out, “Sleep now, there’s no need to be so tense.”

Sehun lets out a deep breath, relaxing into Chanyeol’s hold as Chanyeol nuzzles into his warmth. A brief thought crosses Chanyeol’s mind that this is much more intimate than when they used to cuddle at night as kids, but he’s too tired to expand on it. The warmth of Sehun wrapped up in his arms has him feeling even more drowsy than before and he falls asleep with his chest pressed against Sehun’s back and their legs tangled together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should apologise for hurting Chanyeol but I'm just such a sucker for angst. What do you guys think about the introduction of Sehun? Do you think Chanbaek will be okay?
> 
> Feel free to come talk to/yell at me at @soft-jihoonie on Tumblr


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to say sorry in advance... Enjoy the chapter!

Chanyeol’s very busy the following week, he’s got assignments to focus on and deadlines to meet, making it difficult to see Baekhyun. He does, however, receive quite a few cute texts throughout the week from his crush, who’s obviously still feeling guilty. There’s still a small part of his mind which keeps reminding him of Baekhyun’s actions the previous week, but Chanyeol’s luckily too busy to focus on much more than university, remembering to eat and getting embarrassingly happy over Baekhyun’s texts. He finds himself spending most of his time in the library or at one of the university recording studios, only heading home at a reasonable time due to Kyungsoo calling him up and nagging him to come back for food before he starves. It’s a normal routine for them when Chanyeol gets into work mode, even back when they were doing exams in school, Kyungsoo would be making sure Chanyeol would actually remember to eat at lunch.

He knows neither him or Baekhyun have lectures on Wednesday’s, and he needs a break. So, on Tuesday evening he texts Baekhyun to invite him over for a film day. Baekhyun replies minutes later agreeing to come over, and then follows it up with a text of 'No dressing up, it’ll be a sweatpants day’.

Chanyeol groans out loud at the request, not really a fan of how he looks in lazy day clothing. He figures Baekhyun probably won’t care after how he’d looked at the meal the other week, and uses that thought to convince himself it’ll be okay.

The next morning, Chanyeol gets up a lot earlier than he usually would on his day off. He finds Kyungsoo in the kitchen, looking confused as to why Chanyeol is awake. When Chanyeol doesn’t provide an answer whilst pouring himself some cereal, Kyungsoo says, “Okay, why the hell are you awake at 8 am on your day off?”

Chanyeol moves to get the milk from the fridge as he says, “Baekhyun’s coming over for a film day at like 10.”

“A film day? You mean you’re going to spend the day being all grossly cuddly and flirty.”

Chanyeol sighs, pouring his milk as he replies, “No Kyungsoo, we’re just gonna watch films and relax, nothing more.”

Kyungsoo follows him to the table with his coffee, voice mocking as he says, “No Kyungsoo, we’re just going to be totally gay as we watch films, nothing more.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, ignoring Kyungsoo’s jab in favour of eating his cereal. Not a fan of silence though, he’s soon starting a conversation with his best friend about what had happened in last nights episode of their favourite tv show.

Once Chanyeol’s finished eating and washed his bowl and spoon, he heads upstairs to get ready. He has a quick shower, towel drying his hair and forgoing styling it even though he so badly wants to. He gets changed into some sweatpants and a loose tank top and, although he’s not happy with his appearance, he’s determined to pull through with Baekhyun’s request.

He heads back downstairs to kill time before Baekhyun comes over, ignoring Kyungsoo’s loud remark of, “Park Chanyeol not dressing up for Baekhyun? Are you feeling okay?”

He lays down on the couch as Kyungsoo says, “You’re being no fun this morning, respond to my teasing.”

Chanyeol shifts to look at Kyungsoo as he says, “Stop teasing me on my day off, you’re such a meanie.”

“A meanie?”

“Yes, a meanie, Kyungsoo. You’re a big meanie.”

“Okay, nice to know I live with a 6-year-old. Anyway, I need to go to uni, have fun with your non-gay film day.”

Chanyeol flips Kyungsoo off from where he’s lying, but he still calls out, “Have a good day.” He’s a good best friend, he swears.

He sticks on the tv to fill the silence once Kyungsoo’s left, scrolling through Facebook on his phone to kill time until Baekhyun arrives. Eventually, the doorbell rings and Chanyeol feels embarrassed by how quickly he stands. He makes himself take a deep breath before heading into the hallway, wanting to seem calm when he opens the door.

He opens it, and before he can say anything or fully register how Baekhyun looks, Baekhyun is shouting out, “Oh come on! How is that fair?”

Chanyeol startles at this, confusion covering his face as he asks, “How is what fair?”, and steps aside for Baekhyun to come in.

Baekhyun heads into the hallway as he explains, “How is it fair that you still look good when you’re not even trying?”

Chanyeol finally checks out Baekhyun, the smaller wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. He wonders how Baekhyun can still look like a model as he responds, “I could say the same to you.”

Baekhyun follows Chanyeol into the living room as he exclaims, “But you look good with messy hair! My hair would’ve looked terrible if I hadn’t styled it.”

Chanyeol shoots him a playful glare as he sits on the couch and says, “Hey! You said no dressing up.”

Baekhyun smirks, dropping down next to Chanyeol and saying, “Oops, I guess I cheated.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes as his says, “Betray my trust, that’s fine, whatever.”

Shoving Chanyeol lightly, Baekhyun says, “Shut up, like you didn’t consider styling your hair, I'm impressed you didn’t.”

Chanyeol’s lips morph into a small smile before he quickly covers it up and says, “Whatever, you pick a movie whilst I go grab a blanket.” Baekhyun agrees, and as Chanyeol is leaving the room to head upstairs, he calls out, “And don’t you dare pick a horror movie.”

When he returns with a blanket from his room, he finds Baekhyun on the couch with the start screen for Marley and Me on the tv. He dumps the blanket on Baekhyun as he says, “No. You know I'll cry.”

Baekhyun grins, patting the spot on the couch next to him as he says, “You said no horror films, and it’s not real anyway.”

Sitting next to Baekhyun and tugging part of the blanket over his legs, he whines out, “It's a true story Baek.”

Baekhyun feigns shock before saying, “Oh. Well when you cry real tears, I'll give you real cuddles. How's that for a true story?"

Chanyeol pouts but responds, “Fine, whatever, just press play.”

Baekhyun does as he’s told, and once he’s placed the remote down, he curls his legs up onto the couch and leans into Chanyeol’s side. Chanyeol stiffens at first, staring straight forwards at the screen and trying to focus on the movie.

Baekhyun tugs Chanyeol’s arm to wrap around his shoulders and mumbles, “Just relax, will you?”, and Chanyeol forces himself to un-tense. Soon his focus is fully on the film, and only part of his mind strays to thinking about how right it feels with Baekhyun curled into his side.

Sure enough, the first sad part of the film arrives, and Chanyeol finds himself sniffing in an attempt to not cry. Baekhyun smiles at him fondly, softly saying, “It’s okay, you can cry. I won’t tease you till tomorrow.”

Chanyeol chokes out a little laugh but finds tears rolling down his cheeks moments later. Baekhyun just cuddles further into Chanyeol’s side, reaching over to intertwine their fingers and rub his thumb along the side of Chanyeol’s hand.

The tears do stop, but when the film ends with a sad ending, Chanyeol finds himself crying all over again, even though he has seen the film before. Baekhyun giggles at him, wiping away Chanyeol’s tears as he says, “Come here, you big baby.”

Chanyeol whines out, “You said you wouldn’t tease me till tomorrow”, but leans into Baekhyun’s touch anyway. He’s sure he looks terrible, face puffy from crying, but Baekhyun has nothing but a fond smile on his face as he pulls Chanyeol into a hug.

When he leans back, he grins cheekily and says, “So, next film... How about Up?”

“No! No more sad films, I am done crying.”

Baekhyun laughs, ruffling Chanyeol’s hair as he says,“Fine, I'll find some comedy”, and starts flicking through the comedy’s on Netflix.

Chanyeol tries to be subtle as he lets his gaze fall onto Baekhyun, smiling at how soft and cuddly he looks. He’s quick to look back at the screen when Baekhyun says, “How about this one?”, and he barely registers what film it is as he agrees.

Baekhyun starts the film and assumes his previous position curled into Chanyeol’s side. Five minutes in, however, he’s shifting uncomfortably until he finally says, “This isn’t comfortable enough, lie down.”

Chanyeol stares down at Baekhyun in confusion as he responds, “What?”

“I said lie down. I want to lie down and I can’t do so if you’re still sitting up.”

Chanyeol laughs lightly as he says, “Baek, there’s no way we can both fit on this couch lying down.”

Baekhyun frowns in thought for a moment, clearly determined to come up with a solution, before he says, “Well then I'll just have to lie on top of you.”

“What?”

Baekhyun smirks, voice teasing as he says, “What? Are you scared of a little man on man touching?”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, shifting to lie down instead of answering the question, and Baekhyun follows suit moments later. Baekhyun tangles their legs together and rests his head on Chanyeol’s chest, mumbling out, “Put your arm around me, it’ll be comfier.” Chanyeol does as he’s told and hopes Baekhyun can’t hear how fast his heart is beating in his chest.

It’s too awkward an angle for Chanyeol to watch the film, so he lets his eyes trace Baekhyun’s facial features instead and admire how soft he looks. Soon, with the warmth of Baekhyun against his body and the sound of Baekhyun softly laughing, Chanyeol finds himself drifting to sleep.

He’s woken up to Baekhyun softly snoring against his chest and Kyungsoo smirking down at him, the film no longer playing. After Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, Chanyeol says, “What? Why are you smirking at me?”

Kyungsoo’s smirk turns into an amused grin as he says, “Yeah okay, just watching a movie, nothing gay about this at all.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and responds, “You’re acting like we’ve never fallen asleep watching a film together.”

Kyungsoo gestures at them as he says, “We have, but not like this.” His smirk returns as he continues, “Are you going to wake him up?”

Chanyeol just shakes his head as he softly says, “He looks cute, and he's cuddling me, why would I wake him?”

Kyungsoo laughs, murmuring, “You’re so whipped”, before heading out of the living room and upstairs, leaving Chanyeol alone with a sleeping Baekhyun.

About 10 minutes pass before Baekhyun finally stirs, and Chanyeol’s first instinct is to move so they’re not in such a questionable position. Baekhyun just tightens his arm around Chanyeol’s waist, however, sleepily mumbling, “You’re warm, don’t move.”

Baekhyun’s hair had gotten mussed up in his sleep clearly, and Chanyeol laughs softly as he says, “Y’know, you’re wrong.”

“About what?”

“Your hair doesn’t look terrible unstyled, messy hair looks cute on you actually.”

Baekhyun fully stirs at this, rising to sit as his hands fly up to fix his hair. Chanyeol laughs softly, teasing Baekhyun for caring so much about his looks, even though he knows he’s being a hypocrite.

As Baekhyun gets more frustrated with his messy hair in his sleepy state, Chanyeol rises to sit as well and laughs out, “Okay, come here.” Baekhyun pouts but moves to face Chanyeol, allowing the taller to smooth down his hair until it looks less like he’s just woken up.

They sit there for a moment, eyes locked, before Baekhyun’s phone starts ringing and startles the two of them. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Baekhyun mumbles, “It’s Jongdae”, and answers the call.

Chanyeol watches Baekhyun’s free hand trace a pattern on the couch as he talks, not wanting to interrupt or get involved. After around 5 minutes, Baekhyun hangs up and says, “Jongdae asked me to head into uni to get something from one of his lecturer's since he can’t right now. It’s okay if I go, right?”

Chanyeol nods quickly, smiling as he says, “Yeah, of course, thank you for coming round anyway.” Baekhyun smiles softly back before moving to grab his discarded hoodie from the floor, pulling it back on.

Chanyeol walks him to the door, hugging Baekhyun goodbye and saying, “I'll see you around, yeah? Call me if you need anything.”

Baekhyun grins, responding, “Yeah, of course, thank you for today”, before opening the door and heading out.

Chanyeol watches him leave before shutting the door, heading into the living room to grab his blanket and take it back upstairs. He decides to continue working on an assignment he’s got due, smiling softly as he thinks about the day whilst starting up his laptop.

* * *

He’s spending his Friday evening in the studio when one of his lecturers knocks on the door and asks him to come to her office. Chanyeol’s not too worried as he follows her, she’s easily his favourite lecturer and he knows his work has been up to standard recently. He takes a seat across from her once they get to her office and she smiles warmly at him, allowing Chanyeol to relax fully.

She goes on to bring up the work placement she had mentioned the previous week, explaining what it would entail in further detail. It’s a good offer, working as an assistant to a producer at a high-end recording company. Apparently, the producer had heard some of his work and requested him, which Chanyeol finds very hard to believe. The official paperwork is all there in front of him though, and his lecturer explains that the university is willing to let this go towards his grades instead of assignments and exams he’ll inevitably miss out on.

He knows he should say yes, shouldn’t deny such an amazing opportunity, but the recording company is on the other side of town and the idea of being away from friends for months has him hesitating. Seeing his hesitation, his lecturer passes him the paperwork and details, telling him to think it over and get back to her by the end of next week.

Chanyeol returns to the recording studio to collect his bag and save his work, plans to continue working ruined by the flurry of thoughts in his mind. He finds himself heading out of university automatically, his mind not focusing on where he’s going but his feet taking him there anyway.

He only realises his phone’s ringing about half way through his ringtone and he scrambles to answer it without looking at who’s calling. It’s only when he hears a quiet voice say, “Chanyeol?”, that he realises it’s Baekhyun and his feet halt to a stop.

He quickly asks, “Baekhyun? Are you okay?”, and all thoughts about the work placement disappear from his mind.

It’s strange to hear Baekhyun so quiet as he says, “Jongdae’s gone home to see his family this week and I just really don’t want to be alone right now.”

Before Baekhyun can even continue, Chanyeol’s blurting out, “I'll be there in 10 minutes”, his feet turning him round to head in the direction of Baekhyun’s flat.

Baekhyun lets out a sound of surprise before saying, “Thank you Chanyeol, thank you so much.”

Chanyeol smiles softly at this, asking, “Did you want me to get anything?”, as he remembers the corner shop he’ll have to pass to get to Baekhyun’s.

Baekhyun just replies with a soft, “No, nothing, I just need you”, and Chanyeol can’t stop a large grin from forming on his lips.

He quickly replies, “Don’t worry, I'll be there soon.” He allows Baekhyun to end the call, not wanting to accidentally upset him more.

He sends Kyungsoo a quick text to let him know that he won’t be back for dinner, feet speeding up partly to get out of the cold air but mainly to get to Baekhyun faster. He reaches Baekhyun’s street and speeds up to a jog, reminiscent of the previous time Baekhyun needed him but trying to push the thoughts from his mind.

He reaches Baekhyun’s flat and presses the button to alert Baekhyun he’s here, a little worried when Baekhyun buzzes him in without even checking it’s him first. He rushes up the stairs, taking two at a time, and quickly arrives at Baekhyun and Jongdae’s door. He knocks loudly and strains to hear footsteps approaching the door, relaxing slightly when he hears the sound of the door being unlocked.

The door opens to reveal a tired looking Baekhyun and Chanyeol quickly envelops him in a hug, rocking him slightly as Baekhyun clings onto his t-shirt. He pulls away to close the door, but when Baekhyun doesn’t let go of him after closing it, he brings him back into a tight hug. They stand there like that for a minute or two before Chanyeol leans back again and says, “It’s okay, I'm here, let’s move away from the door.”

Baekhyun finally lets go of his shirt but reaches for Chanyeol’s hand to pull him towards the couch. Chanyeol doesn’t miss the opened bottle of wine sitting on the coffee table next to a glass of wine as he’s pulled down to sit next to Baekhyun.

He turns to Baekhyun, eyebrows raising as he says, “You’re drinking?”

Baekhyun’s face lights up as he says, “Let me get you a glass too”, and he’s rushing off to the kitchen before Chanyeol can respond. He places the glass down in front of Chanyeol, falling back onto the couch and picking up his own glass.

Chanyeol picks up the half empty bottle, turning back to Baekhyun to say, “Did you just open this tonight?”

Baekhyun nods and whines out, “Drink with me Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol considers for a moment that he should probably stay sober if Baekhyun is close to being drunk, but he’s had a tiring week so he thinks _fuck it_ and pours himself a glass. He settles back onto the couch, letting Baekhyun curl up against his side as the two of them take sips of their wine.

His free hand comes up to run his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair as he softly says, “Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

Baekhyun leans into his touch as he mumbles out, “Jongdae left on Monday. I don’t actually know when he’ll be back and I've been pretty lonely.”

Chanyeol hums, drinking from his glass before saying, “Did you not invite anyone else over? Usually, you’d have someone over each night.”

He’s hoping he doesn’t come off sounding bitter and luckily Baekhyun doesn’t notice because he presses closer to Chanyeol’s side and says, “It didn’t feel right to have anyone else around.”

Chanyeol turns to look at Baekhyun as he says, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You know I would’ve come to see you”, and he watches as Baekhyun reaches to pour himself another glass.

Baekhyun fills up the glass almost to the top as he responds, “I mean you invited me round on Wednesday. Plus I saw Sehun at the cafe and he told me that you had a load of work to do this week. He was very sarcastic.”

He pouts as Chanyeol passes him his half full glass, taking Baekhyun’s from him and sipping it before he can stop him. Still pouting, he whines out, “Do Sehun and Kyungsoo hate me?”, before taking a sip from the glass Chanyeol had given to him.

Shaking his head, he pats Baekhyun’s leg and says, “Of course not, they’re just protective of me, they seem to forget I'm an adult.”

Baekhyun laughs at that, grinning as he says, “Well you do look like a child”, and Chanyeol accepts the teasing because it’s got Baekhyun smiling again.

The two of them decide on a movie to watch and Chanyeol feels himself getting tipsy as he tries to drink more so that Baekhyun will slow down on his drinking. It’s at this point that he decides to take the wine away, ignoring Baekhyun’s protests as he makes his way to the kitchen slowly, realising just how tipsy he is when he stands.

He makes his way back to the couch, sitting down beside Baekhyun who says, “You can’t leave me again, you’re warm.”

Chanyeol lets out a laugh, mumbles out, “You’re ridiculous”, but still allows Baekhyun to curl up against his side.

The two of them settle into a comfortable position and Chanyeol refocuses on the movie. He realises 10 minutes later that instead of focusing on the film, Baekhyun’s staring at him and has been staring at him since he’d sat back down.

He looks down at his crush, raising his eyebrows as if to silently ask him what he’s doing. He’s not sure if Baekhyun understands this, but the smaller boy still says, “You’re very pretty, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol can feel his cheeks turning red as he coughs out, “Thank you, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun pouts as he leans closer to Chanyeol’s face, eyes searching his for a moment before saying, “What about me? Am I pretty?”

Chanyeol smiles warmly at his crush as he says, “Of course you are, Baekhyun. There’s no one prettier.”

Baekhyun’s face lights up as he scrambles into Chanyeol’s lap, straddling him easily like he’s always meant to be there. Chanyeol tries hard not to think about how much he wants Baekhyun to slide closer to him, forces his hands not to reach out for Baekhyun’s waist. Baekhyun shuffles around a little, getting comfortable, not noticing the flush on Chanyeol’s cheeks.

He finally settles and plants his hands on Chanyeol’s shoulders, cocking his head to one side as he says, “Pretty people always get kissed in movies, don’t they?”

Chanyeol feels his heart rate pick up as he mumbles, “They do.”

Baekhyun, seemingly pleased with this answer, leans closer ever so slightly. One of his hands playfully tugs at Chanyeol’s hair as he says, “If I'm pretty, then don’t I deserve to be kissed too?”

Alarm bells ring in Chanyeol’s mind but he can’t stop himself from responding, “Of course”, and letting his hands rest on Baekhyun’s waist. Baekhyun slides himself closer to Chanyeol’s torso, a hand coming up to cup Chanyeol’s chin as he stares at Chanyeol’s lips.

His eyes travel back up to meet Chanyeol’s as he says, “You think I'm pretty, so surely you want to kiss me then?”

Baekhyun’s tongue comes out to lick his lips and Chanyeol can’t help himself, he closes the gap between them and kisses Baekhyun. It’s just a soft press of lips at first but when Baekhyun eagerly kisses back, the kiss deepens. Baekhyun’s tongue pushes into Chanyeol’s mouth, fighting to gain the upper hand between them. Soon both of Baekhyun’s hands are in Chanyeol’s hair and Chanyeol’s pretty sure he’s forgotten how to breathe because this is really happening, he’s really kissing Byun Baekhyun.

He lightly bites Baekhyun’s lip, earning him a low moan from Baekhyun before he leans back to look at him. The both of them are breathless and Chanyeol sort of feels like he’s in a dream. He squeezes Baekhyun’s hips under his hands just to check that he’s really here and this is really happening. Baekhyun looks so beautiful, his lips darkened from kissing and his eyes looking at Chanyeol endearingly, waiting to see what he’ll do next.

The movie plays on in the background but all of Chanyeol’s focus is on the boy shuffling slightly in his lap, Baekhyun clearly itching for something more. Chanyeol knows now isn’t the right time, he knows even kissing wasn’t a good idea with Baekhyun in a fragile state. Baekhyun looks so beautiful though and all Chanyeol can think about is how much he loves him, how he wants to kiss Baekhyun over and over again. He wants to shout to the whole world about his love and he sort of wants to take a photo of Baekhyun like this, breathless and eager.

He takes a deep breath, thumbs rubbing at Baekhyun’s hips as he says, “Baekhyun, I like you. No, I love you, I love you so much and I can’t hide it anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was sort of bittersweet for you guys, I updated a day earlier than I originally planned but I left it on a cliffhanger.
> 
> Come yell at me on Tumblr at @soft-jihoonie


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's actually proving to be really difficult to not post a chapter a day, like I'm aiming for a chapter every two days but I keep wanting to post early. Anyway, I think a few of you have suspected what's going to happen in this chapter so i'm just going to apologise in advance... again aha. I should probably warn that there's strong swear words in this chapter.

There’s a pause for a moment, time seems to stop. Chanyeol feels like every breath he takes is a prayer to anyone who will listen, so desperate for an answer after so long of waiting to confess. He's momentarily hit by memories of Baekhyun in high school. He remembers how he had met him and, before even knowing he liked guys, had thought _wow, he's gorgeous_. He remembers deciding in that moment that he had to befriend Baekhyun, that he would regret it if he didn't. He wonders now if the answer to his confession will make him regret that decision, but he thinks he could never regret meeting Baekhyun.

Time catches up as Baekhyun bolts backwards, hands moving out of Chanyeol’s hair and eyes sobering up. He’s still on Chanyeol’s lap but he hasn’t seemed to notice as he blurts out, “What?”

Time slows again for Chanyeol, but this time all he feels is dread. He instantly regrets his confession, but he still repeats himself quietly, less confidently, Baekhyun’s eyes widening as he does.

Chanyeol knows what’s about to happen before it does, but there’s still something in him that begs anyone for just a bit of hope. Baekhyun starts shaking his head, eyes cast away from Chanyeol as he says, “No. No! You can’t. You’re my friend, you can’t love me.” It comes out as harsh words that cut into Chanyeol’s chest, tear apart any sort of hope he’d been clinging onto for so long. He sort of wants to disappear on the spot, fade away and get as far away from this moment as he can.

He feels a lump forming in his throat, willing himself not to cry. He tries not to let out a whimper when he chokes out, “You’ve been so flirty recently, you just kissed me, Baek. I thought I had a chance.” His voice doesn’t sound like his own with how pain drips from every word, the realization of this shocking him.

Baekhyun shakes his head again as he mumbles out, “No, you’re just a friend. I don’t like you like that, I could never.” There’s something like pity in his eyes when he looks at Chanyeol and he continues with, “This can’t happen, are you crazy?”

Chanyeol figures the only way to stop himself from crying is to shut down, so he drops his hands from Baekhyun’s waist, gritting out, “Get off me.”

Baekhyun, realising his position, quickly does, scrambling to stand. His eyes widen again as Chanyeol stands and picks up his bag, his body acting before his brain catches up. He grabs onto Chanyeol’s wrist as he says, “Wait, where are you going?”

Chanyeol doesn’t look at him as he shakes the hand off and walks towards the door. He hears Baekhyun following him so he lets the bitterness seep into his voice as he calls out, “See you around, friend.”

Baekhyun stops, or at least it sounds like he does. Chanyeol opens the door, not looking back as he walks out and slams it behind him, rushing down the stairs so he can just get away. It’s not until he’s reached the end of the street that he lets out a sob, it’s pathetic sounding and quickly followed by mumbles of, “Stupid, you’re so fucking stupid.”

He heads in the direction of home, body on autopilot, thoughts a swirling mess of anger at himself as he lets his feet take him home. Somewhere on the way it starts raining and he’s drenched but too numb to even really notice or care.

By the time he reaches home, he’s not sure what’s tears and what’s rain on his cheeks and hands, having angrily wiped his tears away the whole way home. His hands shake as he fumbles with his key, trying to unlock the door. He’s so numb from the cold that he ends up dropping his key and it takes him 3 attempts just to pick it up. Frustrated with himself, he lets out a loud groan and hammers his fist on the door a few times, already feeling guilty that he’ll probably have woken up Kyungsoo.

He’s considering knocking again when the door is wrenched open, Kyungsoo’s death glare melting into a worried look as he pulls Chanyeol inside. He pulls Chanyeol’s soaked jacket off him as he says, “Why were you walking in the rain? What’s wrong with you?”

Chanyeol just lets out a loud sob, knees buckling underneath him as he drops to the floor, breath quickening until he’s taking in short sharp breaths.

Kyungsoo quickly drops down beside him, tilting Chanyeol’s face towards him as he says, “Hey, come on look at me. Take deep breaths, focus on my breathing, okay?”

Chanyeol struggles but Kyungsoo coaxes him through until he’s no longer hyperventilating. He’s still crying but Kyungsoo takes his calmer breathing as a good sign and pulls him up to standing, leading him into the living room.

It’s only once Kyungsoo has forced Chanyeol into some dry clothes and wrapped him up in a blanket that he actually asks what’s wrong. He rubs a hand on Chanyeol’s back as he softly says, “What happened?”

Even though Chanyeol’s tears have stopped, the moment he starts retelling the events of the evening to Kyungsoo, he’s sobbing again. He’s not sure how Kyungsoo can understand him when he’s taking harsh breaths and sobbing loudly between every few words. Kyungsoo listens intently though, hand rubbing Chanyeol’s back re-assuredly, his eyebrows pinched together in worry. Chanyeol trails off, not managing to get past telling Kyungsoo about Baekhyun’s blatant denial without a fresh wave of tears.

Kyungsoo pulls Chanyeol close, letting the taller rest his head against his chest as he runs a hand through Chanyeol’s hair gently. He takes a shaky breath as if he’s been holding back before growling out, “That fucking cunt.”

Chanyeol startles at the vile language coming from Kyungsoo, turning into a coughing mess as he laughs. He knows he must look crazy, and he feels crazy, knows he’s not in his right mind.

Kyungsoo reaches for Chanyeol, cupping his face as he wipes away the tears staining his cheeks, a soft sad smile on his lips. Chanyeol leans into the touch, allowing Kyungsoo to fuss over him, his eyes slipping shut as Kyungsoo reaches up to tidy his messy hair.

Kyungsoo presses a kiss to Chanyeol’s forehead before saying, “I'm going to make you a warm drink before bed, you’ll be okay for 5 minutes, right?” Chanyeol nods, eyes opening slowly as he feels the couch shift under Kyungsoo’s movement and watches his friend head to the kitchen.

He’s not sure what he thinks about as he waits for Kyungsoo, he feels sort of like an empty shell of himself. He’s so caught up in trying to wrap his head around this empty feeling that he startles when his phone starts ringing, hands shaking as he pulls it from his pocket and notices the name on the screen. Before he can decide whether to respond, the phone is pulled from his hands and Kyungsoo answers it whilst moving away from Chanyeol.

He hears Kyungsoo harshly say, “What do you want?”, and tenses up at the anger rolling off his friend in waves.

Kyungsoo seems to listen for a moment, body tensing into a scary type of calm. His expression is unreadable as he says, “He’s home and safe, I suggest you don’t call again”, before quickly hanging up the phone.

He turns to Chanyeol, who whimpers under his intense glare, his features softening at seeing his vulnerable friend. He disappears into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a mug that he coaxes Chanyeol into cradling with his hands. The phone is slid back into Chanyeol’s pockets but his focus is on the way Kyungsoo softly talks to him about his day, a welcome distraction so Chanyeol won’t think about the phone call.

He allows his friend to continue to mother him, not even arguing when he says they should both sleep in Kyungsoo’s bed tonight. He’s grateful when the two of them finally slip into bed, exhausted from the day but not wanting to be alone whilst he feels so vulnerable.

He knows it seems dramatic but he really feels like his heart has been ripped in two, half of it left in Baekhyun’s flat and the other desperately trying to keep beating in his chest. He falls asleep crying, thankful that Kyungsoo stays quiet and just pulls him closer, letting the taller sob into his shirt until he wears himself out.

He dreams of a life where he’d never met Baekhyun and it doesn’t feel as satisfying as he wishes it would, still feels like something is missing.

* * *

Chanyeol’s incredibly glad the next morning when Kyungsoo treats him no different than usual. Sure there’s less teasing, but he doesn’t act like Chanyeol’s on the verge of breaking any moment. He’s also incredibly glad that he has no lectures today due to it being the weekend and, although he still has work to complete for next weeks deadline, he allows himself a day off. He tells himself it’s because he deserves a day off but there’s no denying it’s because he’s terrified of bumping into Baekhyun. Kyungsoo seems pleased with Chanyeol’s decision to stay home and makes Chanyeol a lunch to heat up later before heading off to meet his coursemates to work on a group project.

Alone in the house, Chanyeol finds himself needing a distraction. He mindlessly flicks through tv channels for 30 minutes, barely paying attention, his eyes roaming the room until his gaze lands on his bag, abandoned on the living room floor yesterday. He instantly makes the decision to empty it, sure that it’s probably still wet, and the tv is promptly forgotten as he moves over to it. He starts removing his folder with his work in it, intent on taking everything out of the bag before his eyes land on the paperwork he’d received yesterday.

He pulls it out of his bag, quickly forgetting his previous task as he lays the pages out on the floor. As he reads, the placement sounds more and more appealing, the idea of getting to leave for a few months a welcome thought now. He doesn’t want to make a rash decision just because of his heartbreak though, so he spends time pouring over the content of the paperwork and researching the recording company on his phone.

Kyungsoo finds him sitting on the floor surrounded by these papers when he returns home, the taller scribbling out notes on a notebook. He wonders for a moment if Chanyeol’s finally let his stress win him over, knocked over the edge by the events of the night before. He sees the determined look in Chanyeol’s eyes though as he crouches down in front of him, only being noticed when his shadow falls over the paper Chanyeol’s looking at.

Chanyeol’s head lifts up, a smile spreading on his lips before he says, “Kyungsoo, I'm gonna do it.”

Kyungsoo’s voice is soft as he says, “What are you going to do, Chanyeol?”, and there’s noticeable concern in his eyes.

Kyungsoo listens intently as Chanyeol explains excitedly about the work placement, pushing the paperwork towards him to read it. Kyungsoo picks up the pages, reading them slowly as Chanyeol fidgets in front of him, incapable of keeping still.

Once he’s read it through, he looks up at Chanyeol, studying his face before saying, “You’re sure about this?” Chanyeol nods enthusiastically, looking almost like an excited child who’s just discovered candy for the first time. Kyungsoo picks up Chanyeol’s notebook, reading through his notes before studying Chanyeol’s face once more.

His features shift into a look of worry as he says, “Chanyeol, you’ve just been denied by the man you love.”

Chanyeol winces so Kyungsoo reaches for his hand as he continues, “This is a big step, are you sure you want to do this? It’s not just a rash decision?”

Chanyeol’s face morphs into a serious look and Kyungsoo worries he’s stepped too far when it was only last night that Chanyeol was crying in his arms.

Chanyeol doesn’t let go of his hand though, and his voice is level as he responds, “I know that it seems rash, that’s why I've been reading the paperwork and doing research for like an hour.”

He takes a deep breath before continuing, “I'm not doing it because of Baekhy - because of him, I'm doing it because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity that I shouldn’t throw away.”

Kyungsoo’s lips tug into a frown at Chanyeol’s pained expression when he attempts to say Baekhyun’s name, but he listens intently until Chanyeol has finished. He nods, seemingly deep in thought for a moment before saying, “Okay.”

Chanyeol blinks at him for a moment before asking, “Okay?”

There’s silence before Kyungsoo nods and says, “Okay. If you’re sure about this then I'll completely support you.”

The grin on Chanyeol’s lips is enough to chase away Kyungsoo’s fears about him not really wanting this. He lets out a laugh as Chanyeol tugs him into a hug, falling forward into Chanyeol from his crouched position as he shifts to keep the two of them from toppling over.

When Kyungsoo pulls back, struggling to shift back into a more comfortable position, there’s a soft smile on his face. Chanyeol starts rambling again about how excited he is and how he’ll get to stay at his parent's house because it’s in the area. It’s not like Chanyeol’s going to be super far away, it’s about a 30-minute drive away from where the two of them currently live. With how busy they’ll both be though, Kyungsoo knows there’s little chance of them seeing each other.

Kyungsoo waits for Chanyeol to finish his excited rambling, a soft smile on his lips as he asks, “When will you be leaving?”

Chanyeol stills for a moment in thought, searching through all the information in his mind that he’s absorbed in the past hour.

He starts gesturing with his hands as he mumbles, “Well I'll probably tell the University I want to do it tomorrow. Then I'll have to finish my current assignments first so probably in 2 weeks?”

Kyungsoo grins at how Chanyeol poses his answer as a question, clearly unsure even after all his research. He pokes at Chanyeol’s chest as he says, “Good, I only have to put up with you for 2 more weeks then.”

Chanyeol whines out Kyungsoo’s name, pouting like a child and Kyungsoo laughs loudly. It’s not long before Chanyeol joins in too, and the two of them must look so stupid sitting together giggling on the floor.

Chanyeol appreciates that Kyungsoo doesn’t further bring up whether his decision to take the placement has anything to do with Baekhyun, he really doesn’t want to think about him for the next 100 years.

Kyungsoo does, however, tease Chanyeol about how he’s going to have to act like a real adult, smirking as he tells Chanyeol that he’ll be a mess. Chanyeol just shoves Kyungsoo off the couch and continues working on the essay he needs to complete by the end of the week if he wants to leave sooner rather than later.

It’s only later in the evening when the two of them are curled up under a blanket watching a movie, that Kyungsoo softly asks, “Are you going to tell him?”

There’s no need to say a name when they both know who Kyungsoo is talking about, Chanyeol’s loud sigh proof enough that he understands.

His hands come up to play with Kyungsoo’s hair, the smaller leaning into his side, and he shrugs. Kyungsoo looks up at the taller, whose eyes are pinned on the tv screen, watching as he sighs again before saying, “I don’t know, I don’t see why he’d care.”

Kyungsoo frowns slightly, hand drifting over to squeeze Chanyeol’s free hand as he says, “He’s still your friend Chanyeol, of course, he’d care.” Chanyeol doesn’t complain when Kyungsoo attempts to poke the frown he’s sporting away with his index finger.

They fall back into a comfortable silence for a short while before Chanyeol sighs once more, he feels like he’ll be doing that a lot more now. He’s sort of glaring at the tv screen now, as if it offended him, as he asks, “Do you think I should tell him?”

Kyungsoo snorts, giving Chanyeol a look of ‘don’t be stupid’ before drawling out, “I don’t think he deserves even the time of day from you.”

Chanyeol huffs out a laugh at his friend, tugging lightly at Kyungsoo’s hair as if to say ‘you’re so mean’.

Kyungsoo shoots him a warning glance so he returns to petting his hair as he asks, “So, no telling him?”

Kyungsoo hums in thought for a second before saying, “You should tell Jongdae.” There’s a mischievous glint in his eye that has Chanyeol feeling nervous.

Even though he’s feeling wary, he still scoffs at Kyungsoo and says, “Why Jongdae?”

Kyungsoo smirks at Chanyeol as he says, “Think about it, it’s the perfect way to get back at him. You tell his best friend, who you’re not that close with, that you’re leaving but you don’t tell him. He finds out through Jongdae. He’s left feeling like second best whilst you’re away living your dream.”

Chanyeol’s jaw would be on the floor if they were in a comic book, that’s how shocked he is, not that he should be after how long he’s known Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo pushes his jaw shut, laughing at him, and Chanyeol finally manages to blurt out, “You’re so evil!”

Kyungsoo smirks as he says, “Thank you.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes before murmuring out, “I don’t want to hurt him.” Kyungsoo’s sigh is so loud Chanyeol’s sure the neighbours must have heard it.

Kyungsoo pinches the bridge of his nose, something he does a lot around Chanyeol. He takes a deep breath before saying, “Look I'm not telling you to go and fuck his best friend. I’m just saying he should get a feeling of how he makes you feel everytime he puts someone or something else before you.”

Chanyeol ruffles a hand through his hair, frowning, before sighing out, “Fine, but if I feel like shit afterwards, I'm blaming you.”

Kyungsoo just shrugs as he says, “Sure.” He eyes the movie they’ve stopped paying attention to before turning back to Chanyeol and saying, “Let’s go to bed.”

Chanyeol spends the night sleeping in Kyungsoo’s bed again, and Kyungsoo pretends he doesn’t hear Chanyeol crying again when they’re lying in the dark. Chanyeol thanks any god there is that he has Kyungsoo in his life.

 

* * *

The next week goes by quickly and Chanyeol informs the university of his decision to accept the placement. He dedicates his time to finishing his work before he leaves and spends most of his time in the studio alone. When he’s not completing uni work, he’s making plans for moving back in with his parents, and researching as much as he can on the company he’ll be working with.

He sees Baekhyun twice, the first time Baekhyun’s waiting outside his lecture. Chanyeol figures he’s there to pick up something for Jongdae from the lecturer and rushes off to the studio without looking back.

The second time he’s on his way to their - no - his favourite coffee shop. He can’t really call it their favourite coffee shop, not when it feels like there is no them anymore. He’s planning to tell Sehun that he’s going to be moving back home, that they’re going to be neighbours again. He could’ve just texted, but it doesn’t feel right, Sehun deserves to hear about it in person.

He’s approaching the coffee shop, running his planned speech through his head, when something catches his eye. He sees Baekhyun inside the coffee shop, sitting at a table by the window, laughing at something. His eyes slide to the person opposite, a sharp pain in his chest as he sees the familiar face of Joy. He could’ve handled it if it was Jongdae, or anyone else, but the fact it’s Joy has him feeling like he’s been stabbed in the chest. Quickly turning on his heel, he heads off back in the direction he came from, deciding Sehun can wait a little longer.

As he’s making his way back to his and Kyungsoo’s house, he makes the decision to never go back to the coffee shop. It’s a silly decision, one he’ll have to change in order to tell Sehun, but right now it’s all he can think. He doesn’t know what he’s feeling. Anger? Hurt? Betrayal? It feels like a swirling cocktail of feelings as he lets his feet carry him home mindlessly, something that’s been happening a lot recently.

He unlocks his front door, heading into the living room, and one look at his best friend is enough for him to break down crying. Kyungsoo’s by his side in mere seconds, mumbling soft words of comfort as he rubs the taller male’s back.

Chanyeol cries for around 2 hours, tucked into Kyungsoo’s side on the couch as he chokes out an explanation of what happened. Of course, the explanation turns into a self-pitying ramble about how much everything sucks without Baekhyun, but Chanyeol can’t stop.

Kyungsoo, ever the good friend, just keeps playing with Chanyeol’s hair and highlights all the good things in Chanyeol’s life. When Chanyeol finally calms down, he mumbles a quiet thank you into Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Kyungsoo just tugs his hair lightly in response before continuing to pet it, a non-verbal communication of ‘don’t mention it’.

Aside from that little episode, and one or two more hiccups, Chanyeol thinks he’s doing very well. His efficiency in planning for the move and getting his work done has him feeling positive, allowing him to feel proud of himself for once. He still feels an aching in his chest when he thinks of something funny and gets the urge to text Baekhyun like he would usually, but he’s slowly coping better.

After a few days of steering clear of the coffee shop, he decides to suck it up and go tell Sehun. He makes sure to go during one of Sehun’s shifts when Baekhyun’s in class, not wanting a repeat of last time. He’s still paranoid as the coffee shop is in his sights, but on entering and seeing no one he knows, he relaxes. He makes his way to the line at the counter, Sehun spotting him from where he’s making drinks. He shoots Sehun a half hearted smile, trying not to seem off but clearly failing if the confused frown on Sehun’s face is anything to go by. Once his drink is ordered, made and collected, he heads over to a table to wait, letting his coffee cool slightly.

Sure enough, he only has to wait a few minutes before Sehun is approaching his table, hands moving behind him to undo his apron. He settles in the seat opposite Chanyeol, getting comfortable before fixing him with a stare and saying, “So, do you want to tell me why I haven’t seen or heard from you in almost two weeks?”

Chanyeol opens his mouth to speak but he’s immediately cut off when Sehun says, Actually no, what’s happening with your mum? Why has she asked my mum if she can store some of the crap in your room in our house?”

Chanyeol stifles a laugh at his younger friends words, batting at Sehun’s hands on the table as he says, “Well I was about to tell you if you’d care to shut up?” Sehun mimes zipping up his mouth and throwing away the key and Chanyeol finds himself smiling fondly at him.

He explains to Sehun everything that’s happened, from the incident with Baekhyun to him moving home for the placement, watching Sehun’s expressions morph from anger to pure excitement. Once he’s done Sehun is grinning, practically bouncing in his seat as he says, “So you’re telling me we get to be neighbours again for like, 3 months?”

Chanyeol feels himself smiling properly for maybe the first time since That Night™ (as he and Kyungsoo have been calling it), enjoying the feeling of being wanted around that he’s getting from Sehun’s excitement. He nods happily and Sehun instantly starts rambling about how awesome this is and how much hanging out they have to catch up on.

Chanyeol doesn’t pull away when Sehun excitedly grabs his hand and starts tracing patterns on his palm as he continues to ramble. The younger isn’t majorly affectionate most of the time so he’s enjoying the attention he’s getting from Sehun in his excitement.

Chanyeol’s planned 5-minute chat turns into an hour and a half of listening to an excited Sehun and laughing at the younger’s slightly bitchy jabs at Baekhyun. It’s nice, and Chanyeol realises it’s what he needed, a distraction from the self-pity he’s been feeling.

By the time he’s heading back to his house, his chest feels a lot lighter, and his thoughts are mainly centred around his excitement for his oncoming adventure. Kyungsoo gives him a questioning look when he comes home but it morphs into a relieved smile when Chanyeol starts rambling about his plans with Sehun now they’ll be neighbours once again.

* * *

Two weeks go by in no time and Chanyeol finds himself packed and ready to leave. His mum arrives in her car the day after Chanyeol hands in his last assignment, and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo pack his bags into the car in a comfortable silence. In the silence, he mentally preps himself for saying goodbye to his best friend, anxiety bubbling in his chest at the thought of being away from him for the first time in years. Sure they’ve had weeks away where they haven’t seen each other, but never this long. Chanyeol’s not sure how he’ll cope without his pillar, the one person who’s always been by his side.

He knows it’s dramatic, but as the last bag is packed, Chanyeol takes a deep breath, turning to face Kyungsoo. He opens his mouth to speak but is cut off by Kyungsoo calling out, “Mrs Park, do you want to come inside for tea or coffee?”

Of course, Chanyeol’s mum agrees instantly, she’s always treated Kyungsoo like a second son. Chanyeol’s left trailing behind them as they head into the house, all his planning for the goodbye disappearing from his mind. The cutoff feeling doesn’t last long, instead replaced by warmth when Chanyeol watches his mum and best friend easily converse. Like most people Chanyeol cares about, they end up in a conversation about how Chanyeol needs others and acts like such a puppy sometimes. Chanyeol would find it irritating if it wasn’t for the soft smiles on both of their faces, and he gets the feeling they missed each other about as much as Chanyeol missed his mum.

Eventually, she takes their mugs to the kitchen to wash, ignoring Kyungsoo’s protests that he can do it himself. She grabs her jacket as she heads back into the living room, pulling it on as she says, “Well I should take Chanyeol home now, Sehun’s been talking his mum’s ear off about Chanyeol coming home. I wouldn’t want to let the poor boy wait any longer.”

As if Chanyeol wasn’t already convinced that Kyungsoo and his mother talk about him behind his back, presumably by text, his mum winks at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo grins back before turning to Chanyeol, his grin morphing into a smirk that has Chanyeol involuntarily blushing.

Chanyeol’s mum smiles at the two of them fondly, picking up her handbag as she says, “I'll leave you two to say your goodbye’s. Kyungsoo, you’re welcome to come and stay anytime.”

Kyungsoo moves over to give her a hug, happily saying, “Thank you, Mrs Park.” Chanyeol watches fondly and wills himself not to cry, not wanting to make him leaving anymore dramatic than it already is in his mind.

With a call of, “Chanyeol, I'll be waiting in the car”, his mum leaves the house. The sound of the door shutting is followed by silence and Chanyeol doesn’t know what to say as he stares at his best friend, speechless for the first time ever around him.

Kyungsoo huffs out a laugh at his best friend’s behaviour and says, “Come here.” Chanyeol almost trips on his way over to his best friend, pulling the smaller into a tight hug.

Squeezing the taller gently, Kyungsoo leans back to look his friend in the eyes. His hand comes up to ruffle Chanyeol’s hair as he says, “Now you better work hard, you hear me? I have no doubt you’ll find it easy to make friends, but don’t be afraid to take risks.”

He diverts his gaze to Chanyeol’s shoulder as he quietly says, “I know you’ll be busy but try and remember to call. I’ll worry about you otherwise, I'll worry about you regardless.”

Chanyeol grins, sniffling slightly as he pulls Kyungsoo into a tight hug again. His hand comes up to ruffle the smaller’s hair as he says, “Okay mum, I'll make sure to eat my vegetables too.”

He gets a light punch and rolled eyes in response, but Kyungsoo still smiles fondly at him, hands lightly pushing Chanyeol into the hall as he says, “Now go before you start crying.”

With a watery grin, Chanyeol calls out, “Love you Kyungsoo”, before heading out the door.

His smile grows when he hears Kyungsoo’s quiet reply of, “Love you too”, as the door shuts.

Sliding into the passenger seat of his mum's car, he smiles at her as she wipes a stray tear away, tutting about how he was “Always so dramatic.”

Once his mum’s started driving, Chanyeol pulls out his phone and brings up Jongdae’s contact information. He feels a little bad for using Jongdae as part of getting back at Baekhyun but he had been wanting to contact him anyway.

He reaches over to the car radio to turn it down before pressing call on his phone screen, bringing it up to his ear. He waits as the phone rings a few times before Jongdae picks up, his voice loud as he says, “Chanyeol, hey!”

Grinning at Jongdae’s hyper activeness, he says, “Hey Jongdae, how are you?”

Chanyeol notices the slight waver in Jongdae’s voice as he responds, “Well y’know, as good as I can be.” His voice returns to normal, however, and he continues with, “What did I do to earn the pleasure of a phone call from you?”

Letting out a laugh, Chanyeol shakes his head at Jongdae’s behaviour. He takes a deep breath, the atmosphere shifting as he says, “Well actually, I wanted to tell you I'm moving away for a few months. I didn’t get to see you before leaving and I want you to know that I'm here for you whenever. I know you’re going through a hard time and I'm just a phone call away.”

Jongdae’s voice is much calmer as he says, “I - uh - thank you Chanyeol, that’s really sweet of you.” There’s silence between the two of them for a moment before Jongdae continues, “I assume you told Baekhyun? Obviously, I haven’t been around the past few weeks.”

Eyeing his mum, who’s clearly trying to eavesdrop, Chanyeol clears his throat before quietly responding, “Well actually - uhm - we’re not exactly on speaking terms right now.”

Chanyeol has to pull his phone away from his ear when Jongdae shouts out, “WHAT?” His voice shifts to a lesser volume as he continues with, “What do you mean? Aren’t you in love with him?”

Grimacing at Jongdae’s choice of words, Chanyeol responds, “Yeah I am - was - look I have to go, Jongdae. I hope things get better for you.”

Jongdae starts to say, “Chanyeol, wait!”, but he’s quickly interrupted with, “Bye Jongdae!”, before Chanyeol ends the call.

Shoving his phone in his pocket, he avoids his mum’s amused gaze as she says, “Do I want to ask?”

He shakes his head as he mumbles, “It’s nothing mum... Now tell me what you’ve been up to.”

He ignores his phones constant buzzing in his pocket in favour of listening to his mum tell him the neighbourhood gossip. The drive home seems to fly by and soon Chanyeol’s back on the street that he used to play on as a kid. Being broke university students, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had decided to live in their house last summer as they were already paying for it. Although Chanyeol had come back for Christmas, it feels like forever since he’s properly been back. The street hasn’t changed one bit and he finds himself grinning brightly as they pull into their driveway.

The front door opens as Chanyeol and his mum are getting out of the car, his dad striding out to meet them. He pulls Chanyeol in for a quick hug before heading to the boot of the car to grab some of the bags, Chanyeol following suit. He chats easily with his parents as they go along, glad there’s no feeling of awkwardness after being away for awhile.

When there are only two bags left, Chanyeol tells his parents to go ahead inside, heading out to grab them himself. He’s just closing the boot when he hears a familiar voice say, “Park Chanyeol, why didn’t you tell me you were moving home today?”

Turning towards the voice, Chanyeol sees Sehun leaning against the wall that separates their driveways, an unamused look on his face. Chanyeol smiles sheepishly, mumbling out, “I figured mum told you, or at least your mum.”

Lifting himself up onto the wall so he can jump down into Chanyeol’s drive, Sehun whines out, “My mum didn’t even tell me, does anyone care about me?”

Laughing at his younger friend, Chanyeol closes the distance between them and pulls him into a hug, laughing out, “Surprise!”, into Sehun’s ear.

Pulling back, Sehun swats at Chanyeol’s arm in protest, rubbing his ear as if Chanyeol had shouted in it. Chanyeol starts teasing him for being a baby as the two of them grab a bag each and head inside, lightly shoving each other on the way. Sehun helps him take all the bags to his old room, their friendly bickering along the way making Chanyeol feel nostalgic.

When the two of them head back downstairs after the last of the bags have been moved, they make their way into the living room. Sehun’s poking at Chanyeol’s side in protest to a terrible joke Chanyeol had made and they must look like a sight as they tumble through the door giggling.

Smirking at the two of them, his mum says, “I thought I'd travelled back in time two years with all the noise you two were making, you could never be quiet together.”

Grinning widely, Sehun moves over to the couch where Chanyeol’s mum sits as he says, “Hey Mrs Park, you annoyed with Chanyeol’s loudness yet?”

As Chanyeol moves to sit next to Sehun, his dad chuckles and says, “Oh Sehun, we can hear you from next door, you’re hardly quiet yourself.”

Chanyeol grins as his parents tease Sehun, joining in every now and again. It feels so natural to be back home and he finds his thoughts hardly straying back to university and a certain man.

Sehun popping over to help with bags turns into him staying for dinner, on Chanyeol’s mum’s insistence of course, and it’s late evening when Sehun finally bids them goodbye. Chanyeol walks Sehun to their door on his mum’s command, the two of them laughing at how pointless it is.

Pulling Chanyeol into a hug, Sehun softly says, “Hey, I'm really happy to have you home”, and his arms tighten to pull Chanyeol just a bit closer.

Laughing at his adorable younger friend, Chanyeol ruffles Sehun’s hair as he says, “I'm happy to be home. Now go home before your mum thinks we’ve kidnapped you.”

Sehun pulls away to open the door, throwing back, “Like you could kidnap me, I'm too strong for you all”, as he heads out.

Chanyeol watches him climb back over the wall between their driveways, laughing as Sehun stumbles a little before he shuts the door. He heads to the kitchen, intent on helping clear up after dinner even though he’s exhausted.

The moment he attempts to help dry the dishes his mum’s washing, however, she swats him away with a command of, “No you’ve had a big day, go to bed.”

Sighing at her stubbornness, he says, “Night mum”, before leaning over to kiss her cheek.

He leaves the room and finds his father in the living room, calling out good night to him before making his way upstairs. His room pretty much looks the way he left it 2 years ago, sure some things have been moved around, but the figurines on his shelf have been untouched. He searches through his bags for pyjama pants and his toiletries, movements sluggish from the exhaustion fully hitting now he’s alone.

Once he’s gotten ready for bed, he slides under the sheets of his freshly made bed, he’ll have to remember to thank his mum. He grabs his phone to put it on charge, finally looking at it since his phone call with Jongdae. There’s about 5 missed calls from Jongdae as well as 10 messages from him, and then a message from Kyungsoo and one from Sehun. He skims through Jongdae’s, mainly just demands that he picks up his phone in all caps.

He grins at Kyungsoo’s message reminding him to call him on his first day at work, sending a quick response of ‘Yes mum, I know, I'm missing you too’.

He’s confused as to why he has a message from Sehun when they’ve only just hung out, but he finds himself involuntarily smiling softly when he reads the message. He’d sent it about 5 minutes after he’d left earlier and it just said ‘You may not be able to kidnap me but I'd stay willingly, your mum makes the best dinner anyway’.

He sends back a quick response of, ‘I’ll make sure to tell Mrs Oh that when I see her’, before setting his alarm and putting his phone on his bedside table. He turns off his lamp and snuggles down under the covers, falling asleep easily for probably the first time since he was rejected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was editing the start of this chapter to get ready to post it, Baby Don't Cry started playing on Spotify and I legit almost cried at my own writing:') 
> 
> I'll apologise again for putting Chanyeol through more pain, I just can't help myself, I'm a Chanyeol stan I promise. 
> 
> As always, feel free to yell at me on Tumblr at @soft-jihoonie or hmu on twitter at @pcy_hoe


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to do a double update today as the next chapter I'll be posting is a shorter one. I hope you enjoy this!!

He’s woken the next morning by his alarm, feeling well rested but nervous about the day ahead. He heads to the bathroom to shower, dressing in smart casual clothes afterwards and attempting to style his hair so it’s not just a mess on his head. Once he’s satisfied with his appearance, figuring he looks smart enough but not like he’s trying too hard, he heads downstairs for a breakfast. As he’s spreading butter on his toast, his mum joins him in the kitchen, getting ready for work herself. She makes them both coffee’s and they sit and eat breakfast together in a comfortable silence.

It’s only after his mum has drunk half her coffee that she asks, “How are you feeling about today? Nervous?”

Chanyeol drinks the last of his coffee before responding, “Yeah, but I'm excited too, it’ll be a good experience for me.” He checks the time, grabbing his plate to take to the kitchen as he says, “I gotta go, mum, need to catch the bus. Have a good day at work, I love you.”

Rushing up stairs, he packs his bag for the day, checking his appearance once more in the mirror before heading back downstairs. He calls out a quick goodbye to his parents before heading out the door and making his way to the bus stop. It’s not long before he’s on the bus, heading into town for his first day of his internship. His leg bounces nervously as he watches streets go by out of the window, trying not to worry himself too much about the day ahead.

He smiles at the texts he receives from Kyungsoo and Sehun telling him good luck for the day, he tries not think about how he wishes Baekhyun had sent one too. Once he arrives at his stop and walks to the company building where he’ll be working, he’s 30 minutes early.

One of the receptionist kindly tells him that, “It’s better to be early and prepared”, before leaving her desk to lead him to the elevator.

They chat easily as the elevator rises and Chanyeol starts to feel his nerves fade away as he focuses more on the conversation. His day proves to be nothing to worry about after all. He mainly just spends it meeting other employees and getting briefed on his role in the company and what it could include.

By the time 3 pm rolls around, he’s content with his decision to take the placement, but also ready to go home and sleep. He’s a naturally chatty person but he doesn’t think he could meet another person for a week after meeting so many people today. He listens to music on the bus home, letting his mind relax after a busy day and he’s happy to see his bus stop come into view.

He’s greeted by an empty house when he gets home, both his parents still out at work, and the silence is welcoming. He makes himself a coffee as he scrolls through his Facebook feed, laughing at funny videos and liking cute photos of puppies.

Once he’s had his coffee, he changes into more comfortable clothing and sends a quick text to Kyungsoo to see if he’s free to call him. He gets a response 5 minutes later and settles down on his bed as he presses call on Kyungsoo’s contact information. The phone barely rings before Kyungsoo picks up with, “So, tell me about your day.”

Chanyeol recites the events of his day to Kyungsoo, answering any questions he throws in along the way. Once he’s finished rambling, there’s a comfortable silence between them until Kyungsoo says, “Jongdae’s coming back on Wednesday.”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows raise as he says, “How do you know? You and Jongdae are hardly close.”

Kyungsoo sighs and says, “Well Chanyeol, after you dropped the bomb that you aren’t talking to Baekhyun, and then ignored all Jongdae’s calls, he called me instead.”

“Did you tell him what happened with Baekhyun?”

“No Chanyeol, what kind of best friend do you think I am? I told him he’d have to ask Baekhyun himself.”

Chanyeol let’s out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He lets his thoughts wander before saying, “Wait, that doesn’t explain how you know Jongdae’s coming home.”

Kyungsoo sighs once again as if he doesn’t think it’s relevant for Chanyeol to know. He stays quiet for a moment before saying, “Well you know Jongdae, he started whining that he wouldn’t be home until Wednesday and he couldn’t just ask Baekhyun on the phone.”

Chanyeol shrugs, before realising Kyungsoo can’t see him and says, “Yeah that sounds like Jongdae, sorry if he bugged you because I didn’t pick up.”

Kyungsoo assures him it’s fine before saying, “So, have you seen Sehun?” His voice sounds ever so slightly suggestive but Chanyeol rids the thought from his mind, sure it’s just him overthinking. He contemplates not telling Kyungsoo about how much he’s seen Sehun, just saying that he’d seen him briefly.

Realising how terrible he is at lying to Kyungsoo though, he says, “Yeah I saw him when I arrived yesterday, he helped me take my bags to my room and then stayed for dinner.”

Chanyeol knows he’s not imagining the suggestive tone when Kyungsoo says, “Already meeting the parents? You work fast Chanyeol, it’s only been a few weeks since Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol is silent for a moment, mind reeling at Kyungsoo’s comment because it just makes no sense. He starts trying to respond a few times before finally slowly saying, “He’s known my parents since he was a kid Kyungsoo, you know that.”

There’s a loud sigh from Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol can imagine him pinching the bridge of his nose as he says, “God, you really are so dense sometimes.” Before Chanyeol can question him more, however, he continues, “Anyway I need to get going, this essay won’t write itself. Keep in touch, okay?”

Chanyeol only manages to say, “Yes of course”, before Kyungsoo’s hanging up the phone on him. Chanyeol’s now just left feeling confused and even more tired, his brain no longer wanting to contemplate over what Kyungsoo meant.

Later on in the evening, after his parents had grilled him about his day and made sure he’s well fed, Sehun starts texting him. Chanyeol finds it amusing that he’s only next door and yet they’re texting, but he goes along with it anyway. Sehun starts asking about his first day of work until it develops into random questions.

Chanyeol lets out a laugh when he receives a text that says, ‘Seen any hotties to help you get over Byun asshole?’

‘Hotties? Who says hotties?’

‘This hottie does’

‘Please shut up oh my god’

‘You didn’t disagree, therefore I am a hottie’

‘Whatever, it’s 11 pm, way past your bed time’

Chanyeol finds himself laughing the whole time, actually giggling when he gets a text saying, ‘More like it’s past your bed time old man, don’t you have work tomorrow?’

‘Yes, and so do you, night Sehun’

‘Night! Sleep well dumbo’

Rolling his eyes at the nickname, he sets his alarm and puts his phone on charge. He heads over to turn off his light and successfully makes it back to his bed in the dark, only stumbling once. He falls asleep with a soft smile on his lips, mind replaying the texts until he’s no longer awake.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Chanyeol starts feeling happy and satisfied with his life. His internship has already progressed from making coffee’s and note taking in meetings, to being allowed to join in with discussions in the meetings. His opinions are actually being respected and discussed properly and he’s never felt so sure of himself before.

To make everything better, he’s been getting along great with his parents and he’s been getting to spend more time with Sehun. Sure he misses Kyungsoo, and sort of misses university, but right now he wants to stay home, enjoy his opportunities whilst he can.

One morning before work, he’s having coffee with his mum, a routine they’ve fallen into. He’s laughing at a text from Sehun, who’s also up for work, and his mum has a knowing look on her face.

She clears her throat, waiting till Chanyeol’s looking at her before saying, “So Chanyeol, Sehun's been around a lot. Don't you think he's such a lovely boy? Wouldn't he be so good for you?"

Chanyeol chokes on his coffee, forcing himself to swallow it all before loudly saying, “What?”

His mum pats his arm as she stands to put her mug in the sink, calling back, “I'm just saying Chanyeol, a nice boy like that would be good for you.”

With that seed of thought planted in his head, Chanyeol starts reading between the lines with Sehun’s texts and the way he’s acting. He doesn’t know if it’s just because his mum put the thought in his head, but he’s sure Sehun has been flirting with him since coming home, he just didn’t notice before.

During his weekly phone call with Kyungsoo, after they’ve gotten the talk about uni and work out of the way, Chanyeol decides he needs a second opinion. He sighs softly, growing quiet before finally saying, “Hey Kyungsoo I think... I think Sehun has been flirting with me."

There’s silence for a moment and Chanyeol’s about to blurt out that maybe he’s being stupid and paranoid. Then he hears Kyungsoo laughing, and he’s incredibly confused as he waits for his friend to stop laughing, cheeks starting to blush from the chance he could be being stupid.

When Kyungsoo finally calms down, he takes a deep breath and then drawls out, “I could have told you that dumbass, anyone who knows you two could’ve.”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow as he frowns, not sure how to feel with this new information. He speaks slowly when he says, “So, Sehun.. likes me?”

Kyungsoo just sighs loudly in response and Chanyeol knows he’s rolling his eyes as he says, “He’s been crushing on you since he knew what crushes were, how are you so oblivious?”

“I don’t know, I just figured he looked to me as like an older brother.”

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Well, what do you think about him having feelings for you? Are you freaking out?”

Chanyeol stays silent for a moment as he lets his thoughts wander, realising he’s not freaking out at all. In fact, he finds himself considering what it would be like to date Sehun. Shaking his head to banish the thoughts, he says, “Actually my mum mentioned something the other day, she said Sehun would be good for me.”

He hears a sound, which sounds awfully like Kyungsoo’s dropped his phone, before there’s fumbling noises, and finally Kyungsoo’s voice comes through the speakers saying, “Park Chanyeol, are you seriously considering dating someone other than Baekhyun?”

Chanyeol ignores the dull ache he feels at the mention of that name, shrugging to himself as he says, “I guess so, I mean I'm not going to ask him out but if he asks me I'll say yes. I mean everyone knows how close I am to Sehun, and there’s no denying we’ve gotten closer recently.” Silence hangs between them until Chanyeol says, “Kyungsoo? Are you there?”

“I think I'm going into shock, I need to sit down. Why aren’t you here to calm me down?”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes at his friends over the top reaction, laughing as he says, “Kyungsoo, if I was there, you’d be hitting me right now.”

“Yeah, it helps calm me down.”

“Find someone else to hit, I'm busy making hot neighbours fall for me.”

Kyungsoo huffs out a laugh before responding, “Fine, I'll just call Jongdae.”

Confusion paints Chanyeol’s face as he says “Jongdae? I didn’t think you two were close.”

“I don’t need to be close to someone to hit them Chanyeol. You’re away and I'm pretty sure if I started hitting Baekhyun right now, I wouldn’t stop. So Jongdae it is.”

“Uh huh, okay Kyungsoo. Well, you have fun with Jongdae, I have a hot neighbour to go and flirt with.”

Kyungsoo lets out a gagging sound before saying, “Stop referring to Sehunnie as your hot neighbour, it’s weird.”

“Not as weird as you and Jongdae being a thing.”

The only response Chanyeol gets is a loud sigh before Kyungsoo hangs up. Chanyeol grins in triumph, always a fan of teasing Kyungsoo and getting a reaction from him.

* * *

On Friday that week, Chanyeol has an amazing day. He can’t stop grinning the whole journey home, despite the weird looks he keeps getting sent his way. As he walks into his drive, Sehun’s walking into his, looking tired from work.

Chanyeol’s grin widens and he calls out, “Sehunnie!”

Sehun grins as he turns to Chanyeol, brightening more as he says, “You’re looking happy, what’s up?”

Chanyeol heads to the wall in between their drives, leaning his elbows on it as he says, “Okay so you know they let me join in with discussions now?”

He waits for Sehun to nod before continuing, “Well today I said an idea, and not only did they decided to use it for the album, I also get to be involved in the production of it!”

When he finishes rambling he looks at Sehun properly, noticing him smiling at him fondly. He flushes slightly as he says, “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Sehun grins, ruffling Chanyeol’s hair as he says, “I'm proud of you dumbass, I knew they’d love your ideas.” His face brightens with excitement as he continues, “Hey, let me take you out tonight to celebrate! We can go to that restaurant by the park.”

Chanyeol looks up at Sehun from where he’s leaning, cocking his head innocently as he says, “Like a date?”

Sehun instantly blushes bright pink, mouth dropping open, and Chanyeol has to try not to laugh at how cute he looks. Eventually, Sehun manages to say,“I mean - no - yes - I don’t know, do you want it to be a date? If you don’t we can just forget about it altogether. I mean I'm still happy for you but -”

Chanyeol decides to end Sehun’s suffering, cutting him off with a call of his name. Once Sehun is looking straight at him, he says, “Ask me on a date.”

Sehun’s mouth drops open again before he finally pulls himself together and says, “I - uh - will you go on a date with me? Tonight. Please.”

Chanyeol finally lets himself grin because Sehun is so adorable. He rises from leaning against the wall and says, “I'd love to. You’re paying, right?”

Nodding excitedly, Sehun blurts out, “Yes of course, if you want me to.”

Chanyeol smiles fondly and says, “Sehunnie, I was joking.”

Sehun’s grin drops and hurt seeps into his voice as he mumbles, “Joking? You don’t want to date me?”

Chanyeol stares as Sehun pouts adorably, selfishly letting the moment last a little longer before saying, “Sehun, I was talking about you paying, we can pay half and half.”

Sehun brightens up again immediately, grinning as he says, “Okay, my bank account can probably handle that.”

Chanyeol ruffles Sehun’s hair as he says,“Come get me at 7 then? I’ll ask my mum if I can borrow the car.”

Sehun bats away Chanyeol’s hands before nodding eagerly in response, as if he doesn’t trust himself to speak. They say their goodbyes and head towards their doors, wearing matching smiles. As Sehun opens his door, Chanyeol calls out, “You better dress up for me.”

Sehun’s trademark smirk returns as he calls back, “Sure, I'll make sure I look hotter than you”, before heading into his house. Chanyeol can’t wipe the grin off his face as he enters his house, feeling like there’s no way his day can get any better.

His mum only works a half day on Friday’s so he heads into the living room, finding her watching tv. He clears his throat to alert her of his presence before saying, “Hey mum, can I borrow the car tonight?”

Looking away from the tv, his mum shoots him a confused look as she says, “Why? Where are you going?”

Shifting nervously under her gaze, he replies, “I’m going for dinner with Sehun tonight.”

“In that case, I'll drive you, parking is never great.”

Chanyeol takes a deep breath before saying, “Mum, I can’t have you drive me to my first date with Sehun.”

Chanyeol’s mum just replies, “Oh”, before she fully realises his words. A wide grin forms on her lips as she repeats,“Oh”, and then she starts rummaging in her handbag.

She pulls out the car keys and says, “Catch”, as she throws them over to Chanyeol. He catches them but almost drops them, fumbling with them clumsily.

Once he’s finally gotten a tight grip on them, he grins at his mum, calling out, “Thanks, mum, you’re the best”, as he heads upstairs.

Remembering that he’s basically been challenged by Sehun to look hotter than him, he calls Kyungsoo for help. The call goes through to voicemail after ringing but Chanyeol’s not one to give up. After the fifth unanswered call, however, he decides he’ll just have to go it alone.

After showering, he spends about 30 minutes going through his clothes before he finally decides on tight black skinny jeans and a dress shirt, attempting a smart casual look. He checks the time and with only 30 minutes left till 7 pm, he starts styling his hair, attempting an effortlessly styled look that actually takes a lot of effort.

At 10 to 7, he finally decides he looks decent enough and grabs his leather jacket before heading downstairs to find shoes. His mum helps him look for his decent shoes that he hasn’t touched since one of his relatives got married and he’s just finished lacing them up when there’s a knock on the door.

Chanyeol feels silly feeling nervous about seeing Sehun, they’ve known each other forever for god sake, but it’s different now. He grabs the car keys from where he’d left them on the hallway table and shoos his nosey mum away. Taking a deep breath, he heads over to the door and pulls it open. It feels like all the air’s left his lungs when he sees Sehun, the younger boy definitely won the challenge.

Chanyeol’s too busy raking his eyes over Sehun to notice the same is being done to him and when their eyes meet, they both blush. Chanyeol’s the first to talk, voice not sounding like his own as he says, “You look really good.”

The mood relaxes when Sehun cracks a grin and says, “You won the challenge though, Mr Park.”

Pulling the door shut behind him, Chanyeol presses the button to unlock the car as he says, “Hardly, Mr Oh. I look awful next to you.”

Sehun shoves him lightly as he says, “Oh shut up, you look hot Chanyeol.”

It’s no surprise Chanyeol stumbles and almost trips, but Sehun grabs his hand and pulls him into his side. There’s a smirk on his lips as he says, “I know I look good, but you don’t have to literally fall for me.”

Chanyeol flushes, batting Sehun away before heading to open the passenger door for him. Sehun looks at him as if he’s sprouted another head, but gracefully slides into the car anyway. Chanyeol makes his way to the driver side of the car, getting in less gracefully and fumbling around with the seat to adjust it, taking way longer than usual. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous and when he closes his eyes to calm himself for a moment, he’s surprised to feel a hand intertwining with his.

He looks over at Sehun who smiles at him softly and says, “It’s okay, we’re going to have a great night, and if you mess up I'll probably find you adorable.”

Chanyeol lets himself relax, bringing Sehun’s hand up to press a kiss to the back of it before letting go and starting the car. Sehun smirks at him and mumbles, “Finally”, which earns him a punch to the arm.

The drive to the restaurant is nice, there’s still a bit of awkwardness between them but they’ve always been good at filling silences. Once they’ve parked near the restaurant and gotten out of the car, Chanyeol holds his hand out for Sehun. Sehun looks surprised for a moment, an adorable blush painting his cheeks, but then he slides his fingers in between Chanyeol’s and starts dragging him to the restaurant.

They have to wait 15 minutes for a table considering they hadn’t booked, and they occupy it by quietly snickering to themselves and making whispered rude comments about the people in the restaurant. It’s slightly too fancy for them and they both know it, but Chanyeol thinks it’s going to be fun. Eventually, they’re shown to a candle lit table in the back of the restaurant and it’s so cliche that the two of them burst into giggles when they meet eyes.

The date is filled with over the top impersonations of posh people that make the other person laugh, and somewhat of a flirt off. It starts because Chanyeol loves to see Sehun flustered, but he hadn’t expected a blushing Sehun to retort and soon they were in a battle of cheesy romantic lines to one up the other. By the time they get the bill, a number that makes Chanyeol wince, they’re smiling at each other fondly in a way Chanyeol would usually find sickening. Sehun insists on paying the full bill, ignoring Chanyeol’s protests as he says, “I'm the money maker in this relationship.”

He shocks himself with the mention of relationships and only relaxes when Chanyeol says, “Hey! I’m a uni student, I'll be the money maker eventually.”

Sehun childishly pokes his tongue out at Chanyeol and Chanyeol shoves him lightly as they stand to leave. He pulls Sehun into his side moments later though, walking out with an arm wrapped around the youngers waist. They walk to the car like that and Sehun tells Chanyeol he’s a fake gentleman when Chanyeol opens his door for him. The drive home is filled with loud music from the radio and the two of them singing along badly on purpose.

Chanyeol pulls into his driveway, Sehun playing along and letting Chanyeol open his door for him once they’ve parked. Chanyeol takes Sehun’s hand in his and says, “Let me walk you to your door.”

Attempting to pull Chanyeol back towards his house, Sehun says, “No way, I asked you on the date, therefore, I should walk you to your door.”

“But I drove you there and back, so I will walk you to your door.”

Sehun reluctantly lets Chanyeol lead him to his door, fingers intertwined. He keeps whining but there’s a grin on his face and he’s no longer pulling Chanyeol back.

They reach Sehun’s front door and Chanyeol grins as he says, “Alright, well you’re at your door. Night”, and starts stepping away.

Tugging on their still intertwined hands, Sehun pulls him back and says, “I thought you were being a gentleman tonight?”

Chanyeol steps closer and softly says, “How would a gentleman end the night then Sehun?”

Sehun blushes and starts rambling about how he should probably just head inside. Chanyeol talks another step closer and Sehun’s rambling turns into him cracking terrible jokes about the night.

Chanyeol grins impossibly wide as he leans closer and says, “Sehun, please just shut up and let me kiss you.”

Sehun’s eyes widen and he brings his hands up to cover his bright red face, cheeks hot from how flustered he is. Chanyeol gently pulls his hands away from his face, kissing each palm softly. He meets Sehun’s gaze, leaning closer and softly asking, “Okay?”

Sehun nods quickly, eyes dropping shut as he waits for Chanyeol to close the gap. Chanyeol smiles at how cute Sehun is before leaning in and kissing him. Sehun practically melts into the kiss and Chanyeol wraps his arms around the youngers waist to keep him up. It’s a sweet kiss and it only lasts for a few moments before Chanyeol pulls back and smiles at Sehun.

Sehun’s eyes flutter open slowly and he returns the smile before realising how much he’s leaning into Chanyeol. He stands upright as he mumbles, “Oh my god I'm so sorry, this is so embarrassing. You’re so confident and I'm just a flustered mess and -”

Before he can continue his rambling, Chanyeol pulls him back into a kiss, stronger than the previous one. When they pull away, Sehun’s left breathless and staring at Chanyeol as if he’s just told him he can have 3 months worth of free ice cream.

Chanyeol kisses Sehun’s cheek softly before stepping back. He nudges Sehun to the door as he says, “I had a really good night, thank you. Now go inside, it’s getting late, I'll text you tomorrow.”

Sehun nods, starting to turn away, but he moves back in for another quick kiss before saying, “Night Chanyeol”, and rushing inside.

Chanyeol stands there grinning like the cat who got the cream for a moment or two before lifting himself over the wall and landing in his driveway. He heads to his door and can’t keep the grin off his face as he unlocks it and heads inside. His mum shoots him a knowing look as she heads out the kitchen, but doesn’t ask any questions so Chanyeol calls out, “Night.”

He heads up to his room and once he’s changed into his pyjamas, he settles down on his bed, looking for Kyungsoo’s contact on his phone. He presses call once he finds it, but once again the call goes through to voicemail after ringing. Deciding he can just talk to Kyungsoo tomorrow, he goes about his usual night routine before heading to sleep, a soft smile on his lips as he thinks about the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For everyone who came to this fic looking for Chanbaek, don't panic!! Chanbaek is end game I promise. But for anyone who also enjoys Chanhun, I hope you liked this chapter haha. I hope you'll all stick with this fic, even if you don't ship Chanhun.
> 
> Feel free to come talk to me @soft-jihoonie on Tumblr or @pcy_hoe on twitter!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a lot shorter than my other chapter's but as it's in Kyungsoo's p.o.v I thought it should be a separate chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it, it's actually my favourite part of the fic

Kyungsoo’s always been a morning person, so when he wakes at 7:30 am, a body curled into his side, he’s hardly surprised. He pulls himself out of the vice grip he’s in carefully and sits on the side of the bed, reaching for his phone on top of the bedside table. He squints at the bright screen, eyes still adjusting to being awake, and finds 6 missed calls from Chanyeol on the screen. Sighing, he stands from his bed, stretching before padding out of the room, careful not to make too much noise.

He heads downstairs and once he’s in the kitchen, he fills up the kettle and flicks it on, sending a quick text of, ‘You awake?’, to Chanyeol.

He’s not expecting a reply for a few hours so he startles when his phone buzzes in his hand moments later. Reading Chanyeol’s text, he quickly presses call and starts pacing the kitchen whilst he waits for Chanyeol to pick up. He feels bad for missing the calls, worried Chanyeol may have had a bad night, but he was sort of busy last night and didn’t look at his phone at all, just shoved it on charge before going to sleep.

After a few rings, Chanyeol picks up with a cheery, “Morning Kyungsoo.”

Pausing in his pacing, he slowly says, “Chanyeol, what was with all the calls? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay Kyungsoo, I'm great actually.”

There’s a confused expression painted onto Kyungsoo’s face as he says, “Are you going to tell me why you called? Or, are you going to keep being so cryptic?”

Chanyeol lets out a giggle, an actual giggle, and Kyungsoo’s fully lost now, wondering if Chanyeol’s finally lost it. Then Chanyeol’s speaking up, ending Kyungsoo’s confusion with, “I went on a date last night!”

Kyungsoo momentarily forgets that he’s trying to keep quiet as he loudly blurts out, “What?! With who?!” He cringes as his voice echoes around the kitchen, knowing there’s no way his guest slept through that.

Chanyeol’s voice is overly excitable as he says, “Sehun, of course. We went to that fancy new restaurant by -”

Kyungsoo’s instantly confused again and he cuts Chanyeol off as he says, “Wait, wait, wait. Sehun? You better start from the beginning Park Chanyeol, and I want every detail.”

Kyungsoo listens intently as Chanyeol recites the events of his day yesterday, answering Kyungsoo’s questions along the way. He’s listening to Chanyeol, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t notice the sound of someone moving around upstairs. As Chanyeol talks about the drive home and how attractive Sehun is, Kyungsoo listens, and also notices the sound of soft footsteps on the stairs. As Chanyeol tells Kyungsoo about the kiss, he notices the sound of footsteps padding through the living room, heading towards the kitchen. He keeps engaged with Chanyeol though, making sure to ask questions and react accordingly.

He doesn’t turn around when he hears the footsteps come into the kitchen, just carries on telling Chanyeol how good a night it all sounds. He startles, however, when arms wrap around his waist from behind and a soft kiss is pressed to the back of his neck.

Despite his shock, he leans back into the touch, cheeks blushing as he says, “Sorry Chanyeol, I need to go. I’m so happy for you though, truly, it’s so nice to hear you so happy again.”

He exchanges good byes with Chanyeol as thumbs rub circles into his hips and when Chanyeol hangs up, he lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

He’s getting ready to scold when he’s asked, “Why are you happy for him? What happened to Chanyeol?”

Sighing, Kyungsoo turns around, and says, “Jongdae, I can’t just tell you, do you know anything about being a best friend?”

Shrugging, Jongdae says, “I don’t know, Baekhyun never has any secrets that I need to keep to myself.” Kyungsoo’s hoping Jongdae will drop the topic, but then he notices the mischievous glint in Jongdae’s eye as his hands start running up Kyungsoo’s sides.

Kyungsoo growls out, “No! Don’t you fucking dare, Jongdae!”, as Jongdae’s hand movements speed up.

Smirking, Jongdae says, “Tell me what happened to Chanyeol and I won’t.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head no in response, and Jongdae starts tickling him relentlessly. It takes a few moments but Kyungsoo manages to grab Jongdae’s wrists and backs him out of the kitchen, into the living room, until the back of Jongdae’s knees hit the couch. Kyungsoo lets go as Jongdae falls back onto the couch, moving to straddle him so the older man can’t get free.

He realises the mistake he’s made moments later when Jongdae smirks and says, “Y’know this reminds me of last night, except you were the one lying down, and I seem to remember there being some begging involved.”

Kyungsoo groans in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose as he says, “If you shut up, then I'll tell you about Chanyeol.”

Jongdae mimes zipping his mouth closed and Kyungsoo sighs once more before saying, “Chanyeol’s dating Sehun, they had their first date last night.”

Jongdae, ever the comic, mimes unzipping his mouth to say, “What? Chanyeol and Sehun? I mean I know you wanted it to happen but, I never thought...”

“Never thought he’d move on from Baekhyun? Truthfully neither did I, but I guess we were wrong.”

Jongdae intertwines his fingers with Kyungsoo’s, playing with his hands as he mumbles, “I can’t believe this, it seems so surreal.”

Freeing a hand, Kyungsoo reaches over to move Jongdae’s hair out of his eyes, voice soft as he asks, “Are you going to tell Baekhyun?”

Jongdae’s silent in thought for a moment before he breathes out, “No, I shouldn’t. He’s really been struggling since Chanyeol left.”

Sighing sadly, Kyungsoo responds, “He brought it on himself though, he broke Chanyeol’s heart.”

He moves off of Jongdae, nudging him to sit up. Jongdae pulls him down to sit next to him, an arm wrapping around his shoulders.

Playing with Kyungsoo’s fingers, Jongdae says, “You know Baekhyun though, he’s never thought seriously about romance and relationships. I think he just thought Chanyeol would always be there, now he’s not and I get the feeling Baek’s learning some things about himself.”

Kyungsoo turns to look at Jongdae as he asks, “What do you mean?”

“He tells me things late at night sometimes, when he’s too sleepy to keep up that careless act. At first, it was just about how Chanyeol was a great kisser and how he didn’t realise he was attracted to him. The longer Chanyeol’s been gone though, the sadder he gets. I could be misreading but I think... I think Baekhyun likes Chanyeol.”

Kyungsoo tenses at those words, eyes widening as he says, “If he likes him, why’d he reject him? Why hasn’t he tried to win Chanyeol back?”

“Think about it Kyungsoo. A flirty careless guy like Baek suddenly gets confessed to by one of his best friends, of course he’s going to freak out. I think now, he knows he’s messed up, and he’s convinced himself there’s no way to fix it.”

“I’m sorry for saying this Jongdae, but your best friend is an asshole.”

Jongdae lets out a soft laugh at this, smiling gently as he replies, “He’s done some shitty things, but he’s a good guy, you know that.”

“I don’t know Jongdae, I'm just not convinced Baek actually has feelings for Chanyeol, and I can’t let him get hurt again.”

Jongdae turns to face him fully, his expression the one he wears when he’s about to spill some gossip. His voice shifts to a mysterious tone, his gossip voice, and he says, “So the other day, I came home, and trust me this will surprise you, it surprised me. I found Baek sitting in the living room, one of Chanyeol’s songs on SoundCloud playing. Now that’s not exactly weird, we jam out to his music sometimes, but he just had this utterly devastated look on his face. Later, I found out it was the song Chanyeol was working on in the studio that day Baekhyun had gone with him.”

Kyungsoo sighs, letting his forehead rest on Jongdae’s shoulder. He feels a hand come up to play with his hair and his smiles slightly as he says, “You’re sure? You really think Baekhyun has feelings for him?”

“I think Baekhyun’s had feelings for him for a long time, he just hadn’t realised it. I know that sounds stupid, but if anyone’s capable of doing that, it’s Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo lifts his head up to look at Jongdae, puppy dog eyes showing as he says, “Can you ask him? We need to be sure Jongdae.”

Jongdae groans out, “Fuck you for using your adorableness against me.” Kyungsoo just shoots Jongdae a look that says, ‘answer me’, and Jongdae mumbles, “Fine, but I hardly think he’ll tell me straight up.”

He moves so he’s lying down, head resting on Kyungsoo’s lap and he smiles up at him as he says, “Anyway, when are you going to mention us to Chanyeol?”

Kyungsoo frowns slightly, gaze meeting Jongdae’s as he says, “I thought you were okay with us not telling people?”

“I was - I am. I haven’t told Baekhyun either, but you said Chanyeol is getting suspicious. I just think it won’t be long till he starts asking questions.”

“What am I supposed to tell him Jongdae? ‘Oh yeah, I'm seeing Jongdae but we’re not dating and there’s no label, we just fuck and cuddle sometimes.’ How romantic.”

“We’re romantic!”

“Jongdae, there is literally nothing romantic about us.”

Jongdae pouts and mumbles out, “I bought you flowers, that’s romantic.”

“You bought me flowers as an apology for leaving hickeys all over my neck. Not that I got them because you gave them to Baekhyun.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes as he whines out, “He looked so sad Kyungsoo, I wanted to cheer him up, I'm a nice person.”

“Yeah, real adorable. Now fuck off out of my house, I have course mates coming over in 30 minutes.”

Jongdae whines at Kyungsoo’s harsh behaviour, but still moves off Kyungsoo’s lap and stands. He holds out a hand to pull up Kyungsoo as he says, “Come on, let’s go get dressed.” He whines about Kyungsoo kicking him out the whole time, but still gets changed quickly and doesn’t attempt to distract Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo walks him to the door when he’s ready and sends him off with a kiss and a call of, “Don’t forget to ask Baekhyun about Chanyeol.”

He only gets a response of, “Yeah whatever babe, I'll let you use me for information”, before he shuts the door.

* * *

A few hours later, when Kyungsoo’s in the middle of working on the group project he’s been assigned with his course mate, his phone starts ringing. Noticing that it’s Jongdae calling, he excuses himself and heads into the hallway to answer the call.

Before he can even say anything, Jongdae’s blurting out, “He said yes.”

Kyungsoo sits down on the stairs before responding, “What?”

Jongdae’s voice is hushed, clearly trying to hide the conversation from Baekhyun, and he says, “I asked him if he has feelings for Chanyeol, and he said yes straight up. Then he cried at me for like an hour about how much he misses him and how he’ll never get to fix things.”

Kyungsoo sighs softly as he says, “I can’t tell Chanyeol about this, and you can’t tell Baekhyun about Chanyeol and Sehun.”

“Obviously. Why can’t you tell Chanyeol though?”

“He sounded so happy about him and Sehun, I can’t put him back through all that hurt and confusion again. You understand, right?”

Jongdae lets out a sad sigh before saying, “Yeah, I do, I just wish it wasn’t so hard.”

“I know Dae, so do I. You’re already going through so much already. Look I have to go back to my group project, text me when you’re next free to hang out?”

“Yeah okay, good luck with your work. Bye Soo.”

When the call ends, Kyungsoo takes a moment to collect himself, feeling awful for deciding to keep this from Chanyeol. He moves the thoughts to the back of his mind though, heading back into the living room and throwing himself back into his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, were you guys expecting that? Honestly, I love them together so much, I'm actually sort of already writing a Chensoo fic which shows how they got together and then explores their relationship further.
> 
> How do you feel about what Jongdae said about Baekhyun?
> 
> Chapter 7 will be a longer one so it'll make up for the shortness of this one.
> 
> Feel free to come and talk to me @soft-jihoonie on Tumblr and @pcy_hoe on Twitter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here!! I'm going to apologise in advance for this chapter, good luck with it. I hope you guys won't hate me much haha.

Chanyeol’s second month at his internship rolls around quickly, time flying, and Chanyeol thinks he hasn’t been so happy for a while. Things are going great at work, he’s no longer just making coffee’s, and he’s actually getting useful experience out of working there. He’s finally working as the assistant to the producer who had requested him for the placement, and although it can be tiring work and sometimes he gets things wrong, he’s feeling great about it.

After work one Friday, he’s got a free house as his parents are out for the evening, so he, of course, invites Sehun over. Sehun brings a film with him that he’s been insisting Chanyeol watches, and it’s adorable how excited he is about it.

Chanyeol drags Sehun up to his bedroom because film watching usually turns into making out. The last thing he wants is his parents coming home to them making out on the couch, plus his computer works perfectly well for watching films. Sehun gets comfy on the bed as Chanyeol sets up the film, returning to Sehun’s side once he’s pressed play and letting Sehun lean into him. Sehun starts playing with Chanyeol’s hands and Chanyeol ignores the feeling of unwanted familiarity that comes with the action. He shouldn’t think about his past when Sehun’s right here.

Sure enough, when Chanyeol’s fully focused on the film, Sehun starts leaving kisses on his neck. Chanyeol ignores it until Sehun starts sucking a hickey onto his collarbone and then he says, “For a film you were majorly excited about me watching, you’re paying very little attention.”

Sehun scoffs a laugh, breath tickling Chanyeol’s skin as he mumbles, “I've seen it like 10 times, you’re the one who needs to pay attention.” He reaches up to turn Chanyeol’s head so his gaze is back on the screen, before continuing painting Chanyeol’s skin with marks.

Chanyeol sighs but does what he’s told, trying hard to focus on the film instead of Sehun kissing across his jawline. He succeeds at ignoring him for a few minutes more, but then Sehun starts sucking on his earlobe. Chanyeol swallows down a gasp before saying, “Oh Sehun, for someone who wants me to focus, you’re being awfully distracting.”

Sehun smirks at him and whispers, “Maybe I want to see what it takes to distract my hot boyfriend? Apparently, the answer is not much.”

Rolling his eyes, Chanyeol says, “Shut up”, before pulling Sehun into a kiss.

After a few moments of making out, Sehun moves to straddle Chanyeol, the movie fully forgotten about. Chanyeol allows Sehun to take the lead, letting him fiddle with the buttons of Chanyeol’s shirt before finally starting to undo it. Chanyeol leans forward to shake his shirt off his shoulders and then his arms, chasing Sehun’s lips when they momentarily pull apart due to the movement. He tenses slightly when Sehun starts running a hand over his chest, but he relaxes into the touch and focuses on the affection he’s feeling for the younger.

They make out like that for a while, Sehun slowly tracing Chanyeol’s muscles as Chanyeol runs his hands through Sehun’s hair. It’s not enough for Sehun though apparently, his hand edging lower until his fingers brush the waistline of Chanyeol’s trousers. Chanyeol tenses again, and when Sehun slides his hand down to rub against Chanyeol’s crotch, Chanyeol pulls back from the kiss. He grabs Sehun’s hand and yanks it away, startling the younger into almost falling off his lap.

Realising what he’s done, Chanyeol quickly wraps his arms around Sehun’s waist to stop him from falling, mumbling, “I'm sorry”, into his neck.

There’s a moment of silence, and Chanyeol’s worried he’s really fucked up, but then Sehun softly says, “Babe - hey, look at me.” Slowly, Chanyeol raises his head and meets the gaze of Sehun who’s smiling at him softly.

He instantly feels even worse, mumbling out another, “I'm sorry.”

Reaching up to run a hand through Chanyeol’s hair, Sehun softly says, “Don’t be. It’s okay if you don’t want to go that far yet, we haven’t been together that long. I don’t want to force anything on you.”

Chanyeol wills a smile onto his face, allowing Sehun to pull him into a hug. He wants to believe that’s the reason, but he knows that’s not why he pulled away. It just hadn’t felt right, had almost felt as if he was cheating by going further. Which makes no sense because he knows he’s only dating Sehun, Sehun is the only person he wants to be with right now, right? He must just not be ready yet, that has to be the reason. He’s tired and not thinking straight and next time it will be fine. That’s what he wants to believe, and as Sehun mumbles that they should probably finish the film and call it a night, Chanyeol allows his mind to convince itself that next time won’t be the same.

They turn their focus back to the film, Sehun curling back into Chanyeol’s side, and Chanyeol has no idea what’s happening with the plot. He spends the next hour of the film asking Sehun questions and acting cute whenever Sehun starts to get exasperated. He’s still pretty confused by the time the film ends, and he vows to himself that he’ll watch it again another time so he can properly chat about it with Sehun. Sehun stretches as the credits roll, pulling away from Chanyeol’s side to move over to the computer.

As Sehun stops the film and removes the DVD, Chanyeol pulls on a random hoodie to walk Sehun downstairs, not wanting to walk down shirtless if his parents are home. He doesn’t want to leave the night on this awkward note, so before Sehun opens the bedroom door, he spins him around, pressing him against the door. He smiles softly at the confused expression on Sehun’s face, leaning down to capture his lips in a kiss. Sehun is quick to respond, and by the time Chanyeol pulls away to let him move, there’s a soft smile on his lips. He grabs Chanyeol’s hand as he opens the door, leading Chanyeol downstairs with him.

Chanyeol makes note of the sound of the tv, an indication his parents are home, as he lets Sehun lead him over to the door. Sehun turns to him when they stop by the door and Chanyeol pulls him into a hug. He tightens his arms as he quietly says, “I'm sorry for ruining the night, babe.”

Sehun leans into the hug as he says, “You didn’t ruin the night, I had a good time. You’re adorable when you’re confused by the way, it was hilarious watching you try to figure out the plot.”

Chanyeol smiles as he leans back from the hug, affection swelling in his chest. He reaches a hand up to stroke Sehun’s cheek before kissing him goodbye softly.

Sehun playfully bites his lip before pulling away and saying, “I'll text you, I’m working tomorrow so I won’t be able to hang out.”

Chanyeol just nods in response, squeezing Sehun’s hand briefly before allowing him to open the door and leave the house. Once the door’s shut, he makes his way towards the living room, finding his mum and dad watching tv.

His mum smiles at him and says, “Was that Sehun? Are things going well with you and your boyfriend?”

Chanyeol’s not sure what possesses him but he tenses and says, “Oh uhm, we’re just dating right now mum.”

This catches his dad’s attention and he turns to his son as he says, “I thought you were in a relationship?"

Chanyeol stumbles over his words as he responds, “Oh well - I just - y’know it’s early stages, we’ve not been dating long - anyway I'm tired so I'm going to head to bed, night.” He rushes out of the room before his parents can respond, confused with his own actions.

Once he’s in bed, he forces himself not to think about his behaviour this evening, instead focusing his thoughts on his current project at work. It takes longer than usual but he eventually manages to fall asleep, the thoughts he’s avoiding trying to push themselves to the front of his mind.

* * *

He’d hoped to have forgotten the previous evening by the morning but when he’s eating breakfast, the memories come rushing back to the forefront of his mind. He attempts to keep himself occupied during the morning to ignore his thoughts but by the time it’s 1 pm, he decides he can’t ignore them any longer.

After about 30 minutes of getting irritated with his own thoughts on his actions, he stops pacing his room and makes a decision. What he needs is a second opinion on his actions, one that he can’t get through a phone call.

He starts packing a backpack in case it ends up being an overnight ordeal and heads downstairs to find his mum.

One mention of Kyungsoo is enough for his mum to pass him the car keys and say, “Tell him I said hi! Take as long as you need dear.” He remembers to give her a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye before finding his shoes to shove them on, exiting the house quickly after.

On the drive over, he blasts music through the car speakers in an attempt to drown out the persistent what if’s coming to mind. The 30-minute drive to his house he shares with Kyungsoo feels like an hour’s drive and he has to stop himself from going over the speed limit multiple times.

By the time he parks outside the house, he’s extremely agitated, needing to pour his thoughts out to someone. His hands shake as he attempts to unlock the front door, something that always happens when his emotions start to get the better of him.

Finally unlocking the door, he hears the sound of the tv and figures Kyungsoo must be having a lazy Saturday for once. The thought of his hard-working best friend taking the time to relax makes him smile as he shuts the front door, closing it quietly in an attempt to not break the peaceful atmosphere in the house.

Being back in his home away from home has him relaxing and he’s less agitated as he makes his way down the hallway. He’s about to call out his greetings as he steps into the living room but the words die in his throat when his eyes land on Kyungsoo kissing a man, straddling his lap. Chanyeol can’t see the man’s face but after a double-take, he recognizes him as Jongdae.

Neither man seems to have heard him come in and Chanyeol stands there stunned for a good few minutes, all thoughts about why he came disappearing from his mind.

Eventually, Kyungsoo pulls away from Jongdae and he startles when he notices Chanyeol. The two of them stare at each other for a moment before Chanyeol blurts out, “What the fuck?”

Jongdae jumps at this, turning to look at Chanyeol. His gaze trails from Chanyeol to Kyungsoo before he jokingly says, “Well that sorts out your problem, Soo.”

Kyungsoo finally moves his stare from Chanyeol, lightly smacking Jongdae’s shoulder as he hisses, “Please shut up.”

Chanyeol watches the two interact before he clears his throat and says, “Is someone going to explain this to me? Or should I just go back home and pretend I saw nothing?”

Jongdae begins to say, “Go back home”, but Kyungsoo covers his mouth with his hand and says, “I'll explain I promise, just let me walk Jongdae out first.” He climbs off Jongdae’s lap but keeps his hand covering Jongdae’s mouth, yet Jongdae reaches up to pull the hand away.

Jongdae tenses up as he says, “You’re making me leave?”

He pulls away as Kyungsoo attempts to reach for him, standing quickly as he says, “Fine, I'll go, I guess you don’t want me around.”

He heads into the hallway to put on his shoes, pushing past Chanyeol who’s still frozen in the doorway. Chanyeol watches as Kyungsoo trails after Jongdae, trying to get him to stop for a moment.

It’s only when Jongdae reaches the front door that he lets Kyungsoo stop him, his face a mix of anger and hurt.

Kyungsoo reaches a hand up to Jongdae’s cheek as he softly says, “I'm sorry. Of course, I want you around, but it’ll be easier to explain to Chanyeol if it’s just me and him. I promise I'll call you later.”

The guilty look on Kyungsoo’s face seems to soften Jongdae and he leans into his touch as he says, “I know, I understand, I overreacted.”

Kyungsoo smiles softly at him and Chanyeol feels like he’s intruding, watching as Kyungsoo says, “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

He leans up to kiss Jongdae goodbye and it feels like such a private moment that Chanyeol has to turn and look away, not sure what he’s meant to feel.

When he hears the front door open, he decides to head into the living room, taking a seat on the couch as he waits for Kyungsoo.

When Kyungsoo does return, Chanyeol doesn’t say anything, waiting for Kyungsoo to sit down beside him before repeating, “What the fuck?”

Kyungsoo sighs, meeting Chanyeol’s stare as he says, “Before I say anything, I need you to promise me that you won’t say anything until I've finished explaining.” Chanyeol frowns at the request but nods his head anyway, gesturing with his hand for Kyungsoo to go on.

Kyungsoo stares down at his hands as he starts explaining, “It’s complicated, okay? We sorta have a relationship like we’re dating, but we’re not. I guess we’re kind of like friends with benefits but with feelings attached.”

Chanyeol opens his mouth to say something but Kyungsoo lifts up his finger to stop him, continuing with, “We just don’t have a label attached, that’s what works best for us at the moment, it’s a mutual decision.”

They fall into silence until Kyungsoo says, “You can talk.”

Chanyeol’s voice comes out louder than he means it to as he blurts out, “How the fuck did this happen?”

“It just sort of did. Jongdae’s been going through a hard time, and I guess I've been a little lonely with out you, so we started hanging out. It was just hanging out at first but it started to develop and now we’re here.”

“You and Jongdae?”

Chanyeol watches a soft smile appear on Kyungsoo’s face as Kyungsoo responds, “Me and Jongdae, yeah.”

Shaking his head as if that will help his confusion, Chanyeol says, “But you guys weren’t close when I left.”

“Friendships can develop, Chanyeol.”

“So, you replaced me?”

Kyungsoo lets out a loud laugh, pushing at Chanyeol’s arm as he says, “I didn’t replace you, I just broadened my friendship group.”

“Well, if that’s what you want to call it then sure.”

Kyungsoo shoots him a glare but he’s still smiling, poking his best friend's leg as he responds, “so Chanyeol, don’t think you’re unwanted because of course I'm happy to see you, but why exactly are you here?”

A puzzled look forms on Chanyeol’s face as he tries to remember the reason behind coming, but after 30 seconds he says, “I literally have no idea, I can’t remember.”

“Must not have been important then.”

Frowning a little, Chanyeol responds, “Yeah, I guess so.”

He’s got the feeling that he’s forgotten something big but nothing’s coming to mind other than more questions about Kyungsoo’s new relationship. Instead of trying to remember, he opts for teasing Kyungsoo and attempting to get more gossip about him and Jongdae out of Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo asks him to stay for the rest of the day and when Chanyeol offers to stay the night, Kyungsoo’s face lights up. Chanyeol teases his best friend for missing him but he can’t help but feel a little emotional over how much he’s missed Kyungsoo himself.

When Chanyeol’s eating the dinner Kyungsoo’s cooked later in the evening, he can’t help but think that although he loves his life away from uni right now, he needed this trip back to Kyungsoo, needed the familiarity.

As they’re cleaning up after dinner, Chanyeol asks, “So who have you been making test your experimental dishes since I've been away?”

Chanyeol doesn’t miss the light blush on Kyungsoo’s cheeks as he says, “Jongdae.”

“So you did replace me, I knew it!”

Kyungsoo aims a kick in Chanyeol’s direction as he says, “Shut up, if I was replacing you then I wouldn’t be getting with Jongdae, would I?”

Chanyeol feigns hurt as he whines out, “Kyungsoo, I thought you loved me? Have you forgotten all those magical nights we’ve spent together?”

“As if I would ever let you anywhere near my ass.”

“My best friend bottoms, good to know..”

“Park Chanyeol, I am holding a knife right now, are you sure you want to go down this road?”

Chanyeol holds up his hands in surrender, backing away to the living room as Kyungsoo smirks at him, knowing he’s won. Chanyeol thinks he’s the real winner though because he gets to watch tv whilst Kyungsoo finishes up in the kitchen.

It’s not long before Kyungsoo joins him, dragging a blanket over to the couch and cuddling himself into Chanyeol’s side. Chanyeol smiles down at his best friend, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as he uses the other to flick through films on Netflix.

They’re watching some random Netflix anime when a mischievous grin makes its way onto Chanyeol’s face and he says, “I bet Jongdae doesn’t give cuddles like I do.”

Kyungsoo looks up at him, eyebrow raised, as he drawls out, “Park Chanyeol, is this you trying to confess your undying love to me? I’m flattered, really.”

Chanyeol starts giggling until he finds he can’t stop, Kyungsoo eventually joining him when his laughter becomes contagious.

Once they manage to calm down, Chanyeol quietly says, “No love confession here, but I have missed you.”

“I missed you too, you dork. Now, let’s shut up and watch the anime.”

When Chanyeol wakes up still on the couch the next morning, Kyungsoo curled into his side, he can’t help but grin at the familiar scene. His body feels stiff from the awkward position he slept in, but he can’t find it in him to be grumpy about it, or even regret not going to sleep in their bed’s upstairs.

Checking his phone, he sees it’s 5 am and takes that as his cue to fall back asleep. He makes sure to shift himself and Kyungsoo into a more comfortable position first though, before finding himself easily falling back asleep.

The next time he wakes, Kyungsoo is gone and the sound of the kettle being boiled comes from the kitchen. Chanyeol rubs at his eyes sleepily before standing and stretching, heading towards the noise in the hopes of finding his best friend.

Kyungsoo smiles at him when Chanyeol walks into the kitchen, finishing making a coffee before passing it Chanyeol’s way. He sips at his own before saying, “Morning sleepy head. Y’know I may have missed your company but I didn’t miss your snoring.”

Chanyeol just flips him off in response as he drinks his coffee.

He stays for breakfast since Kyungsoo offered to make it but after a shower he decides he should probably head back, especially considering he borrowed the car. The drive home passes faster than the drive the day before and not a single thought passes his mind about why he had been in such a hurry to see Kyungsoo yesterday.

He’s in an incredibly good mood and his mood lifts even more when he spots Sehun heading to his own house. He parks the car, Sehun stopping by the wall separating their driveways as he notices Chanyeol’s the person in the car. Getting out the car with his backpack in tow, Chanyeol heads over to the wall with a bright grin on his face.

He presses the button to lock the car as he leans in to press a kiss against Sehun’s lips. Sehun raises an eyebrow at him when he leans back, lips curving into a smile as he says, “What’s got you in such a good mood?”

“I went to see Kyungsoo yesterday and stayed the night, it was just nice to see him again y’know.”

A pout forms on Sehun’s lips as he whines out, “Why do you get that happy about seeing your best friend but not your boyfriend?”

Poking Sehun’s pout, Chanyeol responds, “I'm actually cheating on you with Kyungsoo, he’s pregnant with my child.” He tries to keep a straight face but he can’t help but giggle.

Chanyeol hadn’t thought it possible but Sehun pouts more as he whines, “Babeee, stop teasing me.”

Chanyeol pulls Sehun in for another soft kiss before saying, “Okay okay, I'm sorry babe, you’re too adorable.”

Sehun flips him off before saying, “Take me out for ice cream as an apology.” His pout fades into a grin when Chanyeol lets out a dramatic sigh before agreeing.

* * *

It’s in Chanyeol’s last month at his internship when things change, and not for the better. Work is going great and Chanyeol’s already been told he can get a job there once he graduates if he so wishes.

His relationship with Sehun is going well too, sure it’s more comfortable than exciting, but Chanyeol needs comfortable after so long of pining after one guy. Chanyeol was sure nothing could bring him down at this point, he was on a lucky streak that he was wishing not to end yet.

It all changes one afternoon when he gets home from work, he’s still in his work clothes making himself a coffee when his phone starts ringing. Smiling when he sees the caller is Kyungsoo, he answers it quickly.

Before he can even say hello, however, Kyungsoo’s blurting out, “Chanyeol we have a problem!”

Chanyeol frowns, hand stilling from where he was stirring his coffee as he says, “What? What’s wrong?”

There’s a sound of raised voices in the background before Kyungsoo responds, “Baekhyun over heard Jongdae and I talking about you and Sehun, he’s not happy at all. He wants to go to the cafe right now, you have to go to Sehun.”

Chanyeol tenses but he forces his voice to sound relaxed as he says, “Baekhyun wouldn’t hurt a fly, I don’t even see why he’d be unhappy.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Kyungsoo says, “Jongdae is literally restraining Baekhyun right now to stop Baekhyun from going to punch Sehun. He’s screaming bloody murder about Sehun. You have to go warn Sehun, I know he’s working right now.”

The urgency in Kyungsoo’s tone is enough to convince Chanyeol this is serious. He blurts out a quick, “I can be at the cafe in 15 minutes, see how long you can stall Baekhyun”, before hanging up.

Rushing over to his mum’s bag on the kitchen counter, he grabs the car keys and heads out. As he starts the car, he makes a mental promise to text his mum once Sehun is out of harm's way.

He knows Sehun can handle himself but Baekhyun is so rarely angry that Chanyeol has no idea what could happen. The drive over feels too long and Chanyeol curses when the car alerts him that he’s got a text from Kyungsoo, the electronic voice reading out, ‘Baekhyun just left, please get there soon’.

Chanyeol’s thankful for the lack of speed cameras in the current area as he pushes the speed limit a little. He manages to pull into the car park behind the cafe about 5 minutes later and rushes out the car, only just remembering to lock it in his tense state.

He tries not to make too much of a scene as he bursts into the cafe but the moment Sehun sees him, it’s obvious he knows somethings wrong. Chanyeol heads over to him as Sehun excuses himself to the owner politely and heads towards Chanyeol.

Sehun reaches for Chanyeol’s hand as he says, “Babe, what’s wrong? What are you doing here?”

Chanyeol’s just started explaining to Sehun about Baekhyun knowing, the younger tensing at the information; when Baekhyun comes storming into the cafe. Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s eyes meet and Chanyeol thinks he can hardly recognize him. Baekhyun's eyes are full of anger and there's a tinge of something like hurt on his face.

Chanyeol urges Sehun to move behind him and Baekhyun tenses more at this, eyes trailing down to Sehun and Chanyeol holding hands before he walks closer to them. As he approaches, Chanyeol tries to block his way to Sehun as much as possible.

Baekhyun’s voice doesn’t sound like his own as he growls out, “Chanyeol, move out the way.”

Chanyeol tenses as he says, “No, not if you’re planning on hurting him.”

Baekhyun’s voice rises as he says, “Of course I'm planning on hurting him, he’s using you Chanyeol.”

Confusion masks Chanyeol’s features as he responds, voice equally as raised, “Sehun isn’t using me, he wouldn’t.”

Baekhyun bristles at the sight of Sehun wrapping an arm around Chanyeol’s waist and Chanyeol thinks he sees a flash of hurt in his eyes before he yells, “He approached you when you were in a fragile state, he’s using you.”

Chanyeol feels all his anger at Baekhyun hurting him come to the surface as he yells back, “And whose fault is it that I was in a fragile state, huh? It was yours, you were the one who fucked me over and broke my heart. Now you’re, what? Trying to ruin something that makes me happy? Haven’t you hurt me enough?”

Chanyeol isn’t sure what he’s expecting, maybe for Baekhyun to yell back that Chanyeol shouldn’t have confessed. Maybe for Baekhyun to storm out.

He feels all the anger drain from him though when Baekhyun starts crying, angrily wiping at his tears as he says, “I'm sorry Chanyeol, I'm so sorry. Please, you have to believe me, I don’t know why I did it, I never wanted to hurt you.”

Chanyeol watches as Jongdae enters the cafe, apologizing to them before starting to lead Baekhyun out the cafe. Jongdae has a red mark on his cheek, and Chanyeol wonders if Baekhyun did that but he can’t even feel angry at Baekhyun for it.

Baekhyun’s sobbing as he’s dragged out, yelling, “I miss you so much, please just come back”, in between choked sobs.

Chanyeol stands still, watching them go and feeling like his heart is breaking all over again. When he feels Sehun’s arm drop from his waist, he quickly turns around, remembering he needs to make sure Sehun is okay.

His hands move over Sehun’s shoulders, then his arms, before finally cupping Sehun’s cheeks. He wipes away a tear rolling down Sehun’s cheek as he softly says, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, please don’t block me out right now.”

Sehun doesn’t respond, he just wraps his arms around Chanyeol’s waist and buries his face in Chanyeol’s neck. Chanyeol’s quick to start running a hand through Sehun’s hair, the other rubbing his back as he mumbles out, “It’s okay, you’re okay, I'm right here.”

He catches the eye of the cafe owner, silently asking if they can leave and she motions for them to go with a kind smile.

Kissing the side of Sehun’s head, Chanyeol softly says, “Hey, why don’t you go grab your bag? I’ll drive you home and we can cuddle at mine, yeah?”

Sehun seems reluctant to pull away but he mumbles out, “Okay.”

His eyes are wet as he meets Chanyeol’s gaze and he leans in for a quick kiss before heading off to the staff room.

Whilst he waits, Chanyeol tries not to think about how broken Baekhyun had looked, but the image just won’t leave his mind. He shakes his head to push the thoughts from his mind, attempting to focus on how Sehun needs him right now.

When Sehun comes back, Chanyeol holds out a hand for him, smiling softly when Sehun takes it.

He quietly says, “Let’s go home”, before leading Sehun out of the cafe, hoping Baekhyun and Jongdae are gone at this point. They get into the car in silence and most of the journey home is quiet apart from the radio playing. Chanyeol sends quick glances Sehun's way every few minutes but the younger is always staring out of the window.

They’re about half way through the drive when Sehun says, “I'm not using you”, and a quick glance Sehun’s way shows Chanyeol that Sehun’s still not looking his way.

Chanyeol briefly reaches his hand over to squeeze Sehun’s hand as he says, “I know you’re not, I never thought you were.”

Sehun finally turns to Chanyeol as he chokes out, “Please don’t hate me, Chanyeol.”

Stopping at a traffic light, Chanyeol turns to Sehun and reaches out to run his hand along his cheek briefly, saying, “I could never hate you, you know that.”

He has to turn back to face the wheel as the lights begin to change but he reaches over to squeeze Sehun’s hand once he’s driving again.

It’s not very safe but he only lets go of Sehun’s hand when he needs to indicate or change gears for the rest of the journey home. He’s worried Sehun will close up if he thinks for a second Chanyeol’s mad at him, so he makes sure to ramble about things they did as kids for the rest of the journey home, happy when a slight smile appears on Sehun’s face.

When he arrives home and unlocks the front door, he’s met with the sight of his mum looking rather angry. She opens her mouth to speak, but the moment she sees Sehun looking upset her features soften and she just holds out her hand for the car keys. Chanyeol passes her the keys, kissing her cheek as a thank you before leading Sehun upstairs.

He shuts his bedroom door behind them when they reach his room, pulling Sehun into a hug straight away. It’s not normal for the younger to be so quiet and Chanyeol can’t help but worry Sehun’s had enough, that he doesn’t want to be with Chanyeol anymore.

His worries disappear though when Sehun mumbles into his neck, “Can I stay the night? I don’t want to be alone.”

Chanyeol presses a kiss to Sehun’s head before saying, “Of course you can, have you eaten dinner yet?” Sehun shakes his head no in response and Chanyeol pulls back.

Sehun’s face pales in worry when Chanyeol steps back but Chanyeol just kisses him softly before saying, “Come on, I'll make us some food.” Sehun relaxes, nodding and letting Chanyeol lead him back downstairs.

They end up being ushered out of the kitchen by Chanyeol’s mum who insists on cooking for them, telling them to go watch some tv. Chanyeol finds some random variety show to watch before pulling Sehun into his side, the younger slouching down so that he can rest his head against Chanyeol’s shoulder. Chanyeol plays with Sehun’s fingers, bringing them up to his lips to kiss each finger one by one until Sehun laughs at the feeling.

Sehun perks up a little more when Chanyeol’s mum brings them dinner and then smothers Sehun with affection, Chanyeol watching on fondly. By the time they start washing up dishes, Sehun is cracking jokes and nudging Chanyeol with his hip, even though his eyes look so tired.

It’s incredibly domestic as they get ready for bed together, standing side by side at the sink as they clean their teeth. Chanyeol keeps winking at Sehun when their gazes meet in the mirror, and Sehun can’t stop laughing by the time they spit out the toothpaste.

When they finally get into bed, Chanyeol pulls Sehun close so his chest is to Sehun’s back, legs tangling together. Sehun whines that Chanyeol has cold feet and Chanyeol just kisses his neck before telling him to sleep.

Sehun seems to fall asleep pretty easily and in the silence of the room, Chanyeol’s left with his own thoughts. He can’t get the image of Baekhyun crying out of his mind, can’t forget how he sounded when he told Chanyeol he missed him. He feels awful for thinking about Baekhyun whilst Sehun is sleeping in his arms, but it’s hard to not think about the day's events.

He can’t fully understand why Baekhyun had been so upset about him dating Sehun, the only logical explanation being that Baekhyun likes him. Of course, that’s not the case, it can’t be, Baekhyun probably just missed Chanyeol as a friend, it’s not like they weren’t close for years. The fact that he falls asleep to thoughts of Baekhyun instead of Sehun makes him feel incredibly guilty, an uneasy feeling bubbling in his chest.

He wakes up to Sehun facing him, face buried in Chanyeol’s neck, and it’s so soft that he can’t bring himself to move. He brings a hand up to play with Sehun’s hair, smiling at the soft tickle of Sehun’s breath against his skin. He lays there just enjoying the warmth of Sehun cuddled up to him, trying to push away guilty thoughts about Baekhyun. He doesn’t want to think about him, not when he has a gorgeous, sweet, funny man in his arms, he thinks his mind is just out to get him.

He only truly manages to push away thoughts of him when Sehun moves in his arms, grumbling a little before mumbling, “Morning.”

Neither of them make a move to change their current position as Chanyeol softly says, “Did you sleep well?”

“You know I always sleep better next to you.”

Chanyeol smiles, tugging lightly at Sehun’s hair as he says, “Why are you so adorable in the mornings?”

Sehun lifts his head up to look at Chanyeol, eyes droopy from just waking up as he says, “I'm always adorable, what are you talking about?”

Chanyeol just hums in response, leaning in to kiss Sehun. He pulls away quickly when his mind suddenly remembers his kiss with Baekhyun, attempting to play off his behaviour by leaving soft kisses over Sehun’s cheeks and jawline. Chanyeol hopes Sehun is too sleepy to notice anything, and by the soft smile he finds on Sehun’s lips, he thinks he’s succeeded.

After a few minutes of soft touches and hushed words, Sehun stretches and sits up, turning to look at Chanyeol as he says, “I should get up, I'm working today.”

Chanyeol pouts, making grabby hands towards Sehun as he whines out, “No, come back to bed, I want cuddles.”

Sehun laughs, leaning down to kiss Chanyeol before pulling away from Chanyeol’s reach and getting out of bed. Chanyeol watches him go over to check his phone before saying, “Don’t go to work, stay with me, doesn’t that sound better?”

Sehun smiles down at his phone as he says, “I have to go to work, I have to earn money somehow.”

Chanyeol frowns, what ifs filling his mind as he thinks about the events the day before, eyes scanning Sehun before saying, “Do you want me to come with you?”

Sehun rolls his eyes, looking up at Chanyeol as he says, “You’re my boyfriend, not my bodyguard.”

“I should protect you.”

“I'm like 6 foot, I can protect myself.”

Chanyeol pouts more but accepts that nothing will happen today - probably - he hopes. He lets Sehun go for a shower, but not without a kiss first, before starting to drag himself out of bed. By the time Sehun returns in his work clothes, hair wet, Chanyeol is dressed in sweatpants and a big hoodie.

Sehun grins at him, ruffling Chanyeol’s hair as he says, “You look so soft in the mornings.”

Chanyeol smiles at Sehun, wiping away a water droplet on his forehead that's fallen from his hair, and says, “You should style your hair, do it in that way that makes the girls swoon.”

“Why would I need to make girls swoon when I have a boyfriend to swoon over me?”

“For tips, of course, I'm thinking of you sweetheart.”

Sehun rolls his eyes but still moves over to Chanyeol’s mirror to dry his hair and attempt to style it.

By the time Sehun leaves, Chanyeol is much more awake and easily notices the tenseness behind Sehun’s jokes and affection. He chooses to shrug it off though, kissing him goodbye and telling him to text when he finishes his shift.

He returns to his room, finally looking at his phone and finding messages and missed calls from Kyungsoo. He opts for just responding with, ‘I’m fine, so is Sehun, I hope Jongdae’s cheek is okay’, before locking his phone again.

He sort of doesn’t want to interact with anyone today, he knows he should to avoid the thoughts on his mind, but he doesn’t feel up to acting like he’s absolutely fine. If someone had warned him that seeing Baekhyun cry like that would mess him up so much then he never would’ve yelled at him yesterday, he would’ve just walked out with Sehun in tow. He tells himself there’s no point in regretting things that he can’t change but it doesn’t stop him from thinking about it the whole day.

* * *

The next few days are pretty difficult, he can’t get thoughts about that day out of his mind and it’s clearly affecting how he acts. He tries not to get distracted by the thoughts during work, tries to throw himself into the project, but nothing seems to work. Even when he sees Sehun each day, he can’t truly get the thoughts out of his mind.

He feels terrible, he wants to give Sehun his full attention, and he knows Sehun has noticed that he’s more distant. Anyone would notice it, he’s always distracted, he can see people talking to him but half the time he doesn’t hear what they say. He doesn’t understand how one argument can turn him into this, he feels like it’s unnecessarily dramatic but he can’t stop it.

The worst moments are when he finds himself staring at his text message thread with Baekhyun, fingers poised as if to type something out, without realising he’d gone to it. Every time he has to shove his phone away from himself, not trusting himself to not do something as stupid as texting Baekhyun. He knows he did it one time when he was with Sehun, knows Sehun noticed, and he can’t understand why Sehun just acted like nothing happened.

Sehun seems to do that a lot, acting as if things were completely normal and Chanyeol wasn’t acting off. Chanyeol tries to convince himself that maybe he’s just been good at hiding it, but he knows it’s how Sehun’s choosing to cope.

He should have seen it coming, of course it would happen with how he’s been acting. He comes home from work on Friday, wanting to just sleep after the week he’s had, but when he gets to his room he finds Sehun on his bed.

He startles, stopping in his path as he says, “Sehun? How did you get in here?”

Sehun shrugs, voice forcefully nonchalant as he says, “Your mum let me in earlier. Come here”, and holds his hand out for Chanyeol.

Chanyeol can feel the tense atmosphere in the room as he moves over to the bed, taking a seat opposite Sehun, allowing the younger to play with his hand.

When the tense silence grows unbearable, Chanyeol says, “Sehun I - is everything okay?”

Sehun takes a deep breath, head rising to meet Chanyeol’s gaze, and he slowly says, “I've been doing some thinking and I think I maybe should have done this a while ago.”

His voice trails off and Chanyeol tenses, letting the silence fall again before saying, “Done what, Sehun?”

Sehun doesn’t look at Chanyeol as he continues with, “I think I always knew, but I just ignored it for my own benefit. I don’t want to give you up but I know it’s best for the both of us.”

Chanyeol’s hand tightens around Sehun’s as he says, “Sehun, no, please don’t do this.”

Chanyeol can tell Sehun is trying so hard to be strong as he says, “Chanyeol, it’s okay. I know your heart lies elsewhere.”

Chanyeol refuses to let go of Sehun’s hand as he blurts out, "I did like you Sehun, I do, I promise."

“I know, but you don't love me Chanyeol, and there’s no chance of you loving me, I think I always knew that. I thought I could wait but, I’m not patient enough."

Chanyeol can feel tears welling up in his eyes as he chokes out, “God, I'm so sorry.”

Silence falls between them again, before Sehun takes a deep breath and says, “Don’t be. I knew you were still his from the start, I was being selfish. Baekhyun was sort of right, y’know?”

Chanyeol shakes his head no, tries to tell Sehun that Baekhyun was wrong, but Sehun continues with, “I guess I knew in the back of my mind that my only chance with you would be when you were recovering from heartbreak, I wish I hadn’t have done it. I hope you can forgive me.”

Chanyeol reaches out to wipe a stray tear from Sehun’s cheek, softly saying, “I’m not angry with you, I promise, I was in the wrong too. I used you too without realising, I'm so sorry.”

Sehun leans into Chanyeol’s touch but Chanyeol’s recoiling moments later when Sehun says, “You’ve been in love with him for a very long time, don’t you think you should talk to him? I know you miss him.”

Chanyeol feels anger flare up before he forces it back down, taking deep breaths to calm himself. Why would he talk to Baekhyun, the person that hurt him the most? He doesn’t think he can talk to Baekhyun without yelling right now.

Once he no longer wants to shout, has actually thought about what contacting Baekhyun again could mean, he says, “What about you? I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have, I never wanted to hurt you in the first place.”

Sehun lets out a breathy laugh, rolling his eyes as he says, “Chanyeol, please just think about yourself for once.”

Chanyeol can’t hold back anymore, tears rolling down his cheeks as he pulls Sehun into his arms. Sehun tenses and then relaxes into him, sniffling slightly as Chanyeol chokes out, “God, I'm so sorry, I never wanted to mess with you. I really did like you, I promise, I was happy with you.”

Sehun pulls back gently, laughing a little as he wipes away Chanyeol’s tears and says, “I know, you big baby, I was happy too. I should go, please don’t try and stop me.”

Chanyeol nods but he still asks, “I know it’s a lot to ask but, can we still be friends?”

Sehun shoots him a sad smile as he says, “In the future, but not right now, I need time. Thank you for everything Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol watches Sehun leave, and as his bedroom door shuts, a fresh wave of tears hit him. He’s feeling so many emotions right now, and he hates himself for making Sehun cry. Pure, beautiful, amazing Sehun who had always deserved way more than Chanyeol could give him. All Chanyeol can do is pray to any God’s out there that Sehun will find happiness and someone who will give him the love he deserves.

Eventually, he manages to pull himself together, wiping at the tear tracks on his cheeks in an attempt to look more together. He’s sure he still looks like a mess, but he can’t find it in himself to care as he makes his way downstairs. He finds his mum in the front room and the moment she sees him, she beckons him over.

If anyone had walked into the room, they would’ve been greeted by a funny sight. Chanyeol, a grown man who’s over 6ft, wrapped in his smaller mum’s arms, cuddled into her side. His mum doesn’t push him to start talking, just holds Chanyeol until he finally says, “We broke up mum.”

Petting Chanyeol’s head, his mum says, “I'm so sorry baby, what happened?”

Chanyeol sniffles, sitting up to look at his mum as he says, “I - I've been in love with someone since high school, I thought I was over them but I'm not. Sehun figured it out before I did, that’s why we broke up.”

His mum ruffles his hair, voice jokey as she says, “Park Chanyeol, how could you not tell your own mother that you were in love? Who is it?”

Chanyeol considers brushing her off, but there’s no point in keeping it from her anymore. He still has to take a deep breath though before he says, “Do you remember Byun Baekhyun?”

A wide grin appears on his mum’s face as she says, “I knew he wasn’t just a friend, I always told your father that! So, what happened? Why did you think you were over him?”

A pout makes its way onto Chanyeol’s lips before he mumbles, “I confessed, he didn’t take it well, I figured I moved on after the heartbreak. I saw him last Friday though and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since.” He covers his face with his hands before whining out, “mum, I don’t know what to do.”

She chuckles, patting Chanyeol’s knee as she says, “Chanyeol, you know I can’t help if you don’t tell me the whole story.”

Chanyeol sighs, dropping his hands before beginning to explain, from Baekhyun being more flirty to last Friday. He omits the parts about making out with Baekhyun and not being able to go any further than kissing with Sehun, not feeling comfortable with telling his mum such things. She listens intently, holding Chanyeol’s hand in hers as he talks.

Once Chanyeol’s explained the whole story, she nods and says, “You need to talk to him.”

Chanyeol frowns, voice whiney as he responds, “Sehun said that too, I can’t do that.”

“Sehun is a smart boy, you should listen to him.”

“What if I talk to Baekhyun and we just end up in the same situation again?”

Chanyeol’s looking for excuses at this point so he curses inwardly when his mum wisely responds, “Well then you can handle that when the time comes, but there’s no point in worrying over what if’s. It’s just talking Chanyeol, something you’re very good at.”

Chanyeol pokes his tongue out childishly, turning away as he says, “I can’t do it.”

“Park Chanyeol, if you’re sulking because you realised I'm right then I will have to tell everyone my son is a fool.”

Chanyeol meets him mum’s amused gaze, pouting before saying, “Fine! I'll talk to him - but not yet, I'll do it when I move back in with Kyungsoo.”

His mum smirks at him, happy with him giving in, turning back to the tv as she says, “I'll wait for the wedding invite.”

Chanyeol just whines out that she’s embarrassing him, standing up to leave the room, but he still stops in the doorway to call back, “Thank you, mum.”

His mum just quirks an eyebrow and says, “I wonder what you do when you don’t have me around, you’re hopeless.”

Chanyeol just calls out, “Love you too”, before heading upstairs to his room, feeling a lot less confused than he had when Sehun had left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, writing Baekhyun upset hurt me a lot, and then when Sehun asks Chanyeol not to hate him, that line gets me every time. I hope you liked this chapter even though there were several sad bits. What do you guys think is going to happen now?
> 
> Only one more chapter left!!
> 
> As always, feel free to yell at me @soft-jihoonie on Tumblr and @pcy_hoe on twitter


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is finally here, I have to admit I'm a little emo about posting the last chapter because I spent so long writing this fic. I hope you'll enjoy it!! Also a big thank you to my beta reader Izzy who left adorable notes about how much she liked the fic when she sent me the fic back.

The next few weeks go by in a flash, Chanyeol completely throwing himself into his work so he can do as much as possible in the time he has left at his internship. He doesn’t exactly cut off contact with his friends at his university, but he admits he’s slightly distant.

He just wants a few weeks to get his thoughts together, plus he wants a chance to relax before he moves back in with Kyungsoo and has to start facing his problems again. He still has his weekly phone calls with Kyungsoo but he keeps the conversations on the topic of university and work, he doesn’t mention his break up with Sehun or bring up anything to do with Baekhyun.

It gets a little bit lonely really, especially with him and Sehun not talking anymore and the chats with Kyungsoo being rather generic. He’s grateful that he gets along with so many of his co-workers, they at least make work more sociable. Most of his co-workers are very fond of him and enjoy the energy he brings into the workplace, making things a bit more lively.

Other than his coworkers, he mainly talks to his mum, especially about Baekhyun. He’s known for over thinking and his mum’s definitely the best person to talk him out of his worries. He thinks he’ll struggle a lot when he moves away from his mum again, but remembers Kyungsoo has always acted sort of motherly towards him anyway.

Soon, it’s his last week at the internship and he’s spending his evenings packing to move out again, his mum insisting on helping out which usually turns into her asking Chanyeol about Baekhyun. Apparently, she finds it greatly amusing to see Chanyeol blush and get flustered when he talks about Baekhyun. Every day she tells Chanyeol how whipped he is even though he’s not dating Baekhyun yet, Chanyeol’s not sure how much more teasing he can take.

His last day of work is slightly emotional, Chanyeol’s always the type to cry when saying goodbye, and that sets off the older employees who dote on him. He’s taken out for a goodbye meal with some of his co-workers who are closer to his age, and he gets more drunk than intended what with everyone buying him drinks.

If sober Chanyeol is emotional then drunk Chanyeol is a sobbing mess, which is exactly what Chanyeol is like by the end of the evening. He cries when they give him a goodbye present, cries when he reads the card that came with it, and he cries the most when they decide to call it a night and start saying goodbyes.

He’s driven home by the producer who had requested him to come to the company in the first place, and they spend 30 minutes parked outside Chanyeol’s house talking. The producer insists that it’s to allow Chanyeol to sober up a bit, but Chanyeol knows he’s reluctant to say goodbye yet.

When it hits quarter to 10 however, they decide it’s time to say their goodbye’s. Chanyeol manages to get control of his crying but he’s still sniffling as he’s pulled into a hug, his work colleague saying, “You’ll always have a place at the company, I'll make sure of that. Now get out my car, you giant puppy. I don’t want you making me cry.”

Chanyeol lets out a laugh, holding his hand out to shake his co-worker's hand before saying, “Thank you for everything, thank you for picking me.”

He lingers for just a moment longer before taking a deep breath and opening the car door, sliding out of his seat. He shuts the car door and steps back, watching the car drive away until he can’t see it anymore. He turns around to head towards his front door, having to stop a few steps in when he realises he’s drunker than he thought.

He’s standing at the edge of his driveway trying to keep his balance when he hears a familiar voice call out, “Chanyeol?”

Turning his head towards the voice, he spots Sehun heading down the street towards him, dressed in his work clothes. It’s the first time Chanyeol’s seen him since the breakup and it’d definitely be awkward if Chanyeol wasn’t drunk.

Sehun looks him up and down, a flash of sadness in his expression before it forms into a neutral expression, as he says, “Why are you standing in - are you drunk?”

Chanyeol grins at him, lifting his hand up and holding his thumb and index finger close together as he says, “Just a little.”

Sehun lets out a laugh, smirking as he says, “You can’t walk properly, can you?”

Chanyeol pouts like a kid, eyes cast downwards as he says, “No, it sucks.”

He figures Sehun’s moved on when there’s no response, but then he feels an arm snake around his waist. He looks up in surprise, meeting Sehun’s gaze as the younger says, “Come on then, I'll help you to your door.”

Chanyeol’s sure he’ll feel embarrassed about having to be walked such a short distance tomorrow, but right now he’s just grateful. He lets Sehun slowly lead him to the front door, the younger helping him unlock the door as well.

Before he walks inside, Chanyeol turns to Sehun and places his hands on Sehun’s shoulders.

Sehun shoots him a confused look and Chanyeol blurts out, “Oh Sehun, you’re such a good kid, thank you. You deserve the best, you know that right?”

Sehun laughs, patting Chanyeol’s head before saying, “Okay Chanyeol, inside you go.”

Chanyeol simply just nods before slowly walking inside, pushing the door shut with his hand without looking back. When the door shuts, he realises that may have been slightly rude, but he doesn’t dwell on it for more than 5 seconds.

He heads towards the kitchen, intent on drinking a bucket of water to sober up. He’s met by his mother looking at him amused and he whines out, “Mum, sober me up.”

His mum laughs but still moves to lead him to sit down on a stool in the kitchen before filling a glass with tap water and passing it to him. She instructs him to drink it slowly as she puts some bread in the toaster, keeping an eye on Chanyeol in case he disobeys the instruction.

After two slices of toast and a few glasses of water, Chanyeol feels a lot less drunk and he remembers that he’s travelling back to his and Kyungsoo’s house tomorrow. Knowing that means an early start to pack the car, he thanks his mum, pulling her into a hug before heading out of the kitchen to go upstairs.

He washes up quickly, and once he’s dressed in his pyjamas, he practically crawls into bed. Sleep hits him almost instantly luckily and he’s out like a light just before 11 pm.

* * *

He’s thankful to his mum when he wakes up hangover free, and as he’s getting dressed he realises just how excited he is to move back. The morning passes pretty quickly as he packs final things and he starts filling up the car with his parent's help. He makes sure to send Sehun a text to thank him for the night before and say goodbye, hoping it’s not crossing the line Sehun had set when he ended things.

By midday, the car is packed and all that’s left to do is say goodbye to his dad and the house. He feels a little sad leaving his room again but he knows his room in his and Kyungsoo’s house is much more familiar to him nowadays. He hugs his dad tightly at the door, telling him to come and visit sometime and laughing at the awful joke his dad makes in return.

He tries not to get too emotional as he gets into the car, his mum reaching over to pat his leg as she says, “Don’t worry, you’ll be back, but for now, I need to take you home to your best friend.”

The drive is a pleasant one, Chanyeol tells his mum about the night before and she makes jokes about how emotional he is, a fond smile on her lips. When he mentions Sehun helping him get into the house, she starts rambling about how lovely Sehun is. The rest of the journey is spent by them reminiscing Chanyeol’s childhood, his mum telling him funny things about Kyungsoo and Sehun that he can’t fully remember.

As they’re turning onto Chanyeol’s road, she softly says, “I do remember Baekhyun well, by the way, he always used to look at you like you’d hung up the stars in the sky. I don’t think you’ll have any problems talking to him.” Chanyeol doesn’t respond, just smiles softly and reaches over to gently squeeze his mum’s hand as a thank you.

When they park outside of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s house, Chanyeol has to force himself not to run out of the car in excitement. He gets out slowly but then he hears his mum laugh as she says, “You’re so excited, go ahead, I'll start unloading the car.”

Chanyeol instantly rushes over to the front door, unlocking and opening it and yelling out, “Kyungsoo I'm back.”

He turns away to head over to the car but stops when he hears Kyungsoo say, “Come and say hello properly then.”

Turning back around, he grins at Kyungsoo, holding out his arms as he says, “Come here.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but still walks over and lets Chanyeol wrap him into a hug. He pokes at Chanyeol’s side as he says, “Welcome back, I guess my peace and quiet is over.”

“You missed me, admit it.”

Kyungsoo just waves a hand at him in dismissal before walking away to greet Chanyeol’s mum and help her with the bags. Chanyeol joins them, picking up 2 bags as he says, “No Jongdae?”

“Chanyeol, do you really think I'd have him around on the day you’re moving back?”

Chanyeol starts walking towards the house, Kyungsoo following, as he says “He had to go home to do work, didn’t he?”

In response, Kyungsoo kicks the back of his thigh lightly before saying, “Shut up Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol smirks, proud of himself for exposing Kyungsoo. He has to dodge the pillow from his bed that Kyungsoo throws at him, laughing at the glare Kyungsoo sends his way.

Unpacking the car and taking all the bags inside goes by quickly and soon Chanyeol’s watching his mum and Kyungsoo bond as they drink their coffee’s. It’s a similar scene to the day Chanyeol had moved away a few months ago and he can’t help the soft smile that’s seemingly stitched itself onto his face. His mum stays for about half an hour before saying she needs to head back home, thanking Kyungsoo for the coffee and hugging him good bye.

Chanyeol follows his mum to the front door, pulling her into a tight hug as he says, “Thank you for everything, I love you, I'll miss you.”

His mum rubs a hand over his back gently, pulling away as she says, “You have to keep me updated, okay? I want you to be happy.”

“I promise I will, mum.”

Chanyeol presses a kiss to his mum’s cheek before letting her turn and open the door. He stands in the doorway watching her until she’s driven away, feeling his chest clench slightly at the thought of not getting to see her every day anymore. He shakes off the feeling as he heads back into the living room, dropping down onto the couch beside Kyungsoo.

He moves to lie down, his head resting in Kyungsoo’s lap, and Kyungsoo huffs out a sigh before threading his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair. They stay there in silence for a few moments before Kyungsoo says, “Okay, what’s wrong? And don’t you dare say nothing because I know how distant you’ve been since the argument with Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol presses his face into Kyungsoo’s legs, mumbling out, “Sehun broke up with me.”

He feels Kyungsoo tense before he turns Chanyeol to meet his gaze, searching Chanyeol’s face for something as he says, “Why?”

Chanyeol looks away again as he says, “He said I was still in love with Baekhyun, that it would be better for the both of us if we ended things.”

“I know he said more Chanyeol, stop hiding things from me.”

Chanyeol sighs, turning back to look at Kyungsoo as he says, “He told me to talk to Baekhyun, okay? He said I should think about myself for once.”

Kyungsoo gently ruffles Chanyeol’s hair as he says, “I'm assuming you told your mum?”

“She said I should talk to Baekhyun too.”

“It’s not a bad idea, he misses you y’know?”

Chanyeol covers his eyes with his forearm as he whines out, “I miss him so much Kyungsoo, why do I miss him so much?”

Kyungsoo laughs, tracing patterns on Chanyeol’s arm with his finger as he responds, “Are you going to talk to him then?”

“I’ll text him to meet for coffee or something, at some point.”

Kyungsoo seems to notice Chanyeol’s hesitancy to continue talking about Baekhyun so he opts for instead asking, “How’s Sehun coping?”

“I’m not completely sure, he said we need time apart before we can be friends again. I was drunk last night though and he helped me into my house, he just kept laughing at me.”

Kyungsoo smiles as he says, “Well that’s a good sign.” He seems to reconsider for a second before poking at Chanyeol’s forehead and saying, “How could you hurt that kid?”

Chanyeol pouts up at Kyungsoo, whining out, “Kyungsoo please don’t, I already feel guilty enough. I cried so much after he broke up with me.”

“You cry at everything, being your best friend is hard work.”

Chanyeol finally grins up at Kyungsoo as he says, “But you love me, right?”

Kyungsoo pokes his forehead again but says, “Yeah, I love you. I’m glad you’re back.”

“Wow, why are you being so nice? Did you get laid last night?”

Kyungsoo flicks Chanyeol’s forehead but still smirks at him and drawls out, “Obviously.”

Chanyeol swats at his best friends chest, going into a ramble about how he won’t tolerate Kyungsoo and Jongdae having loud sex whilst he’s in the house.

* * *

Settling back into living with Kyungsoo isn’t hard at all and Chanyeol’s grateful to no longer be feeling lonely after his last few weeks at the internship. He doesn’t have a single complaint about Kyungsoo, except maybe about how much he nags Chanyeol to message Baekhyun.

It’s not like Chanyeol doesn’t want to see Baekhyun, he’s just terrified. He’s terrified of getting hurt again or even hurting Baekhyun. He hasn’t spoken to Baekhyun properly since the day he was rejected, save from the argument in the cafe, so it’s bound to be awkward.

Chanyeol just wants things to be like how they were before with him and Baekhyun, he just doesn’t know if he’ll be able to handle the awkwardness leading up to things going back to normal. What if Baekhyun doesn’t want to go back to normal? What if Baekhyun actually hates him and the meeting will just be a chance for Baekhyun to show Chanyeol where he stands?

He can’t help but majorly overthink the situation and, in response to Kyungsoo’s nagging, he’s come up with some pretty ridiculous excuses as to why he hasn’t text Baekhyun yet.

Yesterday Kyungsoo had asked if he’d done it yet and Chanyeol had responded: “No, I had to water the plants today.”

“Chanyeol, we own like 2 plants which you’ve never cared about.”

“It was a hard job Kyungsoo, it took all my energy, I couldn’t possibly text after that.”

“I really hate you sometimes, why is my best friend so dumb?”

“Love you too, Soo.”

Kyungsoo had walked away with a mutter of, “Dumbass.”

As if he was looking to annoy Kyungsoo more, Chanyeol also hasn’t left the house once since coming home. He’s too scared of bumping into Baekhyun when he’s not prepared to talk yet. His excuse to Kyungsoo, however, is, “I've just missed the house so much, I want to get familiar with it again.”

Come Saturday, Kyungsoo decides enough is enough. He wakes Chanyeol up around 9 am and chucks him an outfit. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Chanyeol mumbles, “What’s with the outfit?”

Kyungsoo leans on the doorway, his ‘don’t fuck with me’ look on his face as he says, “We’re going to town today, that’s your outfit.”

Chanyeol opens his mouth to refuse, but one look from Kyungsoo has him stumbling out of bed, mumbling, “Okay okay, let me go shower first.”

Kyungsoo has a satisfied smile on his face, watching Chanyeol head to the bathroom just to make sure he won’t go back to bed.

After his shower, Chanyeol considers just going back to bed, but he doesn’t particularly feel like being yelled at by Kyungsoo. He eyes the outfit on his bed as he towel dries his hair, deciding it’s actually something he would wear out to town.

He gets changed and attempts to style his hair, deciding when he has a last look in the mirror that he looks good enough. He makes his way down to the kitchen, finding Kyungsoo dressed and making breakfast.

Chanyeol starts making coffee for the both of them as he says, “So why exactly are we going to town?”

Kyungsoo moves over to the fridge, taking out the milk to pass it to Chanyeol as he says, “I have to buy some things at the market, plus I'm fed up of you just staying in the house.”

Chanyeol pouts but says, “Okay fine, but you have to buy me those cookies I like from the market.”

“Why the fuck should I?”

“Would you rather I refuse to come out and act mopey for the next month?”

Kyungsoo shoots Chanyeol a glare as he plates up their breakfast, letting out an exasperated sigh before saying, “Fine, I'll get you your damn cookies.”

Chanyeol grins, taking the coffee’s out to the dining table as he calls back, “You’re the best, Soo.”

Chanyeol’s missed Kyungsoo’s cooking a lot so he can’t keep the grin off his face as he eats, enjoying how easily conversation flows with his best friend.

After they wash up their dishes, they start the 20-minute walk into town. The time passes relatively quickly though and Chanyeol only gets told off twice for walking too fast for Kyungsoo. Chanyeol gets punched on the arm the second time when he suggests giving Kyungsoo a piggyback to get there faster.

He pouts at Kyungsoo but all Kyungsoo says is, “You deserved it, stop being a baby.”

The market is as busy as always on a Saturday and Chanyeol convinces Kyungsoo to let them wander instead of just heading for the things Kyungsoo needs. Kyungsoo sighs, but when Chanyeol points out that there’s no point in taking the time to come in if they’re only staying for 10 minutes, he gives in. Chanyeol doesn’t miss the soft smile on his lips when Chanyeol gets excited about records at one of the stalls though.

They end up spending an hour at the market, wandering around and trying free tasters at food stalls when they’re offered. Being broke university students means that by the time they leave the market, all they’ve purchased is the items Kyungsoo had needed and the cookies for Chanyeol.

They walk back through town to head home in a comfortable silence, Chanyeol people watching as they go.

He spots Jongdae sitting on a bench, getting an urge to say hello, before realising Baekhyun is sitting right next to him, panic filling his mind.

He reaches out for Kyungsoo’s arm, eyes still on Baekhyun laughing with Jongdae as he says, “Kyungsoo lets go the music store, I forgot something I need.”

Kyungsoo stops walking, leaning around Chanyeol to see what he’s staring at before pinching Chanyeol’s side hard, voice accusing as he says, “Park Chanyeol, you are not running away.”

Chanyeol whines as Kyungsoo starts tugging him towards Jongdae and Baekhyun, voice rushed as he says, “Kyungsoo I can’t talk to him, not yet. What if he doesn’t want to see me?”

Chanyeol hears Kyungsoo respond but he loses all focus when Baekhyun meets his gaze, his eyes widening as he shoots out his hand to grab at Jongdae’s arm.

As Kyungsoo drags Chanyeol closer, they can hear Jongdae saying, “Baek, fuck, that hurts, get off!” Baekhyun mumbles something and Jongdae loudly responds, “I don’t care if it’s the bloody pope, stop gripping my arm.”

Baekhyun grip clearly tightens more and Chanyeol can’t take his eyes away from Baekhyun, even when they’ve stopped in front of him and Jongdae. Baekhyun looks as good as always and Chanyeol groans internally at the fact that even Baekhyun’s surprised face is cute, why is everything about him so cute?

He only moves his gaze away from Baekhyun when he hears Jongdae say, “Soo, get him off me, I'm literally dying here.”

Kyungsoo just rolls his eyes in response and drawls out, “Oh good, maybe I'll finally get some peace and quiet.”

Baekhyun lets out a little laugh, finally releasing Jongdae’s arm, and Chanyeol smiles gently when his eyes meet Baekhyun’s again.

A silence falls across the group before Jongdae stands, taking Kyungsoo’s hand in his as he says, “Come on, I'll buy you lunch.”

Kyungsoo nods, patting Chanyeol’s back lightly as he whispers, “Just relax, you’ll be fine”, before letting Jongdae lead him away. Chanyeol brings his attention back to Baekhyun, the latter looking up at him with wide eyes and an unsure smile.

Chanyeol brings up a hand to rub at the back of his neck, eyes shifting down to Baekhyun’s hands before lifting back to his face. He takes a deep breath, knowing the longer he leaves it the more awkward it will get, and says, “We should go for some coffee, to talk, y’know. Only if you want to though.”

Baekhyun’s smile grows wider as he nods, standing and starting to walk away. Chanyeol’s hit by the sudden realization that Baekhyun’s heading in the direction of the cafe Sehun works at, hand shooting out to grab Baekhyun’s and stop him.

Baekhyun stops, turning back around, his gaze staring down at Chanyeol’s hand holding his. Chanyeol realizes what he’s done, a blush painting both of their cheeks as he drops Baekhyun’s hand.

He rubs the back of his neck again awkwardly, glancing at Baekhyun’s face before saying, “I - we should go to a different cafe.”

Baekhyun’s face morphs into an expression of understanding and he nods, a soft smile on his lips as he says, “Lead the way.”

Chanyeol doesn’t really know many other cafes in the area, they’d always gone to their cafe, so it’s 5 minutes of walking together silently before he spots a small cafe. He nudges Baekhyun to get his attention, glancing at him before mumbling, “Is this one okay?”

Baekhyun leans past him, hand resting on Chanyeol’s arm to keep his balance, before he nods and says, “Looks good, let's go.”

Instead of letting go of Chanyeol’s arm, Baekhyun links their arms to lead Chanyeol to the cafe. Chanyeol appreciates how much Baekhyun is doing to lessen the awkward atmosphere surrounding them.

They order their drinks and pay separately. Chanyeol feels an urge to offer to pay for Baekhyun’s but he thinks it may just make the situation more awkward currently so he holds back. They wait for their drinks in silence, Chanyeol taking quick glances at Baekhyun, blushing whenever their eyes meet. He hates how awkward they are now, he’s never been awkward with Baekhyun before, things had always just felt so comfortable when they were together.

They make their way to a table towards the back of the cafe once they have their drinks, a silent mutual decision to sit further away from most of the cafe’s current occupants.

Chanyeol’s considering how to start the conversation as they sip their drinks, a hundred possibilities running through his head that just aren’t good enough. He’s saved from further stress however when Baekhyun says, “I guess Sehun wouldn’t want to see me at our cafe, right?”

Chanyeol forces himself to respond casually despite his brain going into overdrive at Baekhyun calling it their cafe, rubbing his neck again as he says, “Well, he wouldn’t want to see me either.”

Baekhyun cocks his head in confusion, mumbling out, “Why not?”, and all Chanyeol can think is _oh god, he’s adorable, I'm so screwed_.

He pulls himself together and attempts to be nonchalant as he says, “We broke up, I don’t think he’d want to see his ex in his work place so soon after.”

A smile appears on Baekhyun’s lips, his face lighting up before he quickly covers it up and says, “I'm so sorry Chanyeol, are you okay?”

Chanyeol smirks at Baekhyun’s attempt to hide his true reaction, taking a sip from his coffee before saying, “Yeah I'm fine, I think it was time for us to end it. I guess it had sort of grown stale between us, we’re better as friends.”

Baekhyun nods, patting Chanyeol’s hand that’s resting on the table lightly before picking up his drink. They fall into another silence, but it’s less awkward this time, and Chanyeol uses it to prepare himself for the question he wants to ask.

He takes a deep breath, catching Baekhyun’s gaze as he says, “Why did you get so angry when you found out about me and Sehun?”

Baekhyun tenses up and Chanyeol watches him force himself to relax, waiting patiently for Baekhyun to get his thoughts together.

After a few seconds, Baekhyun’s gaze falls to the table and he says, “I wasn’t even really angry that you were dating Sehun, you know I always want you to be happy, Chanyeol. It’s just -”

Baekhyun cuts himself off, hands coming up to brush away tears Chanyeol had only just realised were forming. Chanyeol opens his mouth to say something but Baekhyun seems determined as he takes a deep breath and says, “It’s just that no one had told me, and it probably wouldn’t have hurt much but - but no one told me you were leaving Chanyeol, you didn’t tell me you were leaving.”

At this point there are tears rolling down Baekhyun’s cheeks that he’s given up on brushing away, voice coming out slightly broken as he continues, “I had to find out when Jongdae came back home, I had to find out you’d told Jongdae but not me. It hurt so much Chanyeol, I knew why you’d done it but it didn’t stop it from feeling like a stab to the chest. So, when I found out about you and Sehun, I was just so angry people were keeping things from me again and I took it out on Sehun.”

Chanyeol can’t hold himself back anymore as Baekhyun’s voice trails off into a quiet sob, he stands and walks over to Baekhyun’s side of the table. Crouching down to be at the same height as Baekhyun, he pulls him into a tight hug, rubbing circles into his back as he mumbles, “I'm so sorry Baekhyun.”

He doesn’t care that this may not be appropriate with how their current situation is, his heart hurts when he sees Baekhyun cry and he hates that he’s the reason why. He moves to lean back slightly but Baekhyun tightens his grip on Chanyeol’s shirt and chokes out, “Please don’t let me go.”

Despite the uncomfortable crouching position he’s in, and the people in the cafe staring at them, Chanyeol tightens his arms around Baekhyun and softly says, “I won’t, not again, I promise I'll be here.”

When Baekhyun doesn’t show any sign of stopping crying, Chanyeol starts rocking him in his arms and softly humming Baekhyun’s favourite song. Baekhyun’s hands move from Chanyeol’s shirt to around the back of his neck, a hand gripping at Chanyeol’s hair lightly. His face is buried in Chanyeol’s neck as he keeps mumbling, “I've missed you so much.”

Chanyeol shushes him gently, pulling back a little, and when Baekhyun tries to stop him, Chanyeol gently says, “Hey it’s okay, can you let me see your face?”

Baekhyun hesitates but after a few moments he lets Chanyeol lean back, lifting his head to look at him. Despite his red eyes and the tear tracks on his cheeks, Chanyeol still thinks he looks absolutely beautiful. He moves his hands away from Baekhyun’s back to cup his cheeks and gently wipe away the tears, Baekhyun’s eyes shutting as he leans into the touch.

As Chanyeol moves his hands to fix Baekhyun’s mussed up hair, Baekhyun softly says, “Park Chanyeol, I love you.”

Chanyeol’s movements stop and he’s pretty sure he’s forgotten how to breathe as he chokes out, “What?”

Baekhyun meets his gaze and he says, “I love you, and I know you may not feel the same anymore, but I needed to tell you.”

Chanyeol’s hands drop from Baekhyun’s hair, his mouth dropping open in shock as he struggles to form a response. He knows he should just say that he loves Baekhyun too but he’s forgotten how to talk properly, eventually dropping his face into his hands and mumbling out, “So why?”

Baekhyun runs his hand through Chanyeol’s hair as he says, “Why, what?”

Chanyeol lifts his gaze to meet Baekhyun’s as he says, “Why did you reject me?”

A sad smile makes its way onto Baekhyun’s face as he says, “Because I'm an idiot who didn’t realise I have been in love with one of my best friend’s for years until I lost him. I’d never thought about feelings seriously until I hurt you and realized that I can’t live without you, as dramatic as that may sound. I know it may seem unbelievable, but I think I'd convinced myself that you only like me as a friend because you never tried to flirt with me like everyone else who was interested.”

With a hundred different thoughts flying through his head, all Chanyeol manages to blurt out is, “Me too.”

Baekhyun cocks his head again in that way Chanyeol’s beginning to love as he says, “What?”

Chanyeol blushes in embarrassment, mumbling out, “Dumbass”, to himself before saying, “I love you too, and I can’t live without you either, I don’t want to live without you.”

A wide grin appears on Baekhyun’s face, a soft laugh leaving his lips as he says, “But you and Sehun?”

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow, confused by Baekhyun’s timing to bring up him and Sehun, but says, “I liked him, but I didn’t love him. He figured that out, it’s why we broke up.”

“You dated him despite knowing you were in love with -”

“Baekhyun, please shut up.”

A pout makes its way onto Baekhyun’s lips as he says, “Why? I don’t want to.”

Chanyeol grins, poking Baekhyun’s pout as he says, “Please shut up and kiss me.”

Realization spreads across Baekhyun’s face, a smile appearing on his lips in place of the pout as he says, “Okay.”

His hands move to cup Chanyeol’s cheeks, Chanyeol’s eyes fluttering shut, and he leans in closer, his gaze trailing down to Chanyeol’s lips before he softly giggles and presses a kiss on Chanyeol nose.

Chanyeol’s eyes fly open and he whines out, “Baekhyun, that’s not what I -”

He’s cut off when Baekhyun rolls his eyes playful before pressing a kiss to Chanyeol’s lips. He starts to lean back again but Chanyeol pulls him closer, deepening the kiss despite them being in the middle of a cafe.

After a few moments, Baekhyun seems to remember this, pulling away with a large grin. His thumbs gently stroke Chanyeol’s cheeks as they grin at each other, looking like two love sick idiots.

Eventually, Chanyeol moves back to his seat, the crouching position becoming too uncomfortable, but he takes Baekhyun’s hand in his so they’re still touching.

Baekhyun’s large grin shifts to a softer smile as he says, “I love you and I want you to be my boyfriend, but I think we need to take some time to figure this out. I need to know I can commit myself to you and I'm sure we have some issues we need to handle.”

Chanyeol nods, lifting Baekhyun’s hand up to kiss his knuckles before saying, “I agree, I think I need some time after everything that’s happened too.”

Baekhyun grins cheekily as he says, “So, friends with benefits then?”

Chanyeol acts offended as he responds, “Uh I think you mean best friends with benefits and feelings.”

Baekhyun forces his expression into a serious one as he says, “Oh of course, how could I make such a mistake?”, before the two of them dissolve into loud laughter.

They spend an hour or two more in the cafe, Chanyeol telling Baekhyun all about his internship, the two of them easily falling back into their old ways. Except now the long conversations are paired with held hands and stolen glances that leave them both blushing.

They head back through town towards where they’d met a few hours before, hands linked and swinging between them as Baekhyun energetically tells Chanyeol about a fight that had happened at the university whilst they were away.

When they have to split ways to head home, it takes about 5 minutes longer than their goodbyes used to. Chanyeol pulls Baekhyun in for one last kiss before saying, “Okay, now I'm going, stop being adorable so I can leave.”

Baekhyun laughs, mumbling something about that being impossible, but he pulls away from Chanyeol anyway. He winks at him before backing away, calling out, “Call me”, before turning around and walking away.

Chanyeol knows he got a huge dopey grin on his face as he makes his way home, and he’s not making any effort to hide it.

He enters his house with a cheery call out of, “Kyungsoo, I'm home”, and makes his way towards the kitchen where the lights are on.

He finds an amused Kyungsoo cooking, Jongdae hanging off his back as he questions every little thing Kyungsoo does in a childish voice. Chanyeol hops up to sit on the counter next to the oven, grinning at Kyungsoo when their eyes meet.

Kyungsoo’s voice is teasing when he says, “I see no Jongdae pout, is Park Chanyeol happy after seeing Byun Baekhyun for once?”

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo both ignore Jongdae’s confused, “What’s a Jongdae pout?”, as Chanyeol says, “Well Do Kyungsoo, Park Chanyeol may have bagged himself a 'best friend with benefits and feelings' called Byun Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo smirks, moving his attention back to his cooking as Jongdae says, “So you’re not in a relationship yet?”

Chanyeol shakes his head, a soft smile on his lips as he says, “Not yet, we’re taking it slow, working things out.”

Jongdae nods before saying, “Look Kyungsoo, the kids grow up so fast, they’ve gotten so mature.”

Kyungsoo lets out a loud laugh as Chanyeol flips the two of them off, even though he’s got a wide grin on his lips. He zones out slightly as Jongdae tries to call an unimpressed Kyungsoo his wife.

The scene has changed so much since the last time Chanyeol was sitting on this counter whilst Kyungsoo cooked, his thoughts no longer bitter and his chest feeling light. He finds it sort of amusing that so much happened just because he couldn’t handle his jealousy when it came to Baekhyun. It’s impressive really.

Chanyeol doesn’t want to be jealous, it’s his least favourite trait that he has, but maybe he can keep it under control now that he knows Baekhyun loves him back. Yes, the whole damn campus is crushing on Byun Baekhyun, but Chanyeol’s the one Baekhyun chose and he feels like the luckiest man alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sort of can't believe it's over, I hope you guys enjoyed it and like the ending. Do you think there's anything you would have liked to happen differently?
> 
> I feel like I should sorry for the extra bit of sadness during the Chanbaek talk but it would've felt fake if Baekhyun didn't show how much he'd felt hurt y'know?
> 
> As I mentioned before, I am writing a Chensoo fic based on this fic so hopefully, you'll get to see more Chanbaek in that! (The chensoo fic is now starting to be posted on my account)
> 
> As always, feel free to message me @soft-jihoonie on Tumblr and @pcy_hoe on Twitter

**Author's Note:**

> If you fancy talking to me on Tumblr then you can find me at @soft-jihoonie.
> 
> A massive thank you to Sarah (@ghstgrrl on here and @lovjeon on Tumblr), who will deny that she was my guardian angel whilst I was writing this, but put up with my rambling about this fic and gave me inspiration whenever I got stuck on a chapter, I couldn't have completed this fic without her.


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